Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Lundy. Can the minister confirm that five years ago, when the Howard government left office, the arrival of people on illegal boats had effectively been stopped and that there were only four people in detention who had arrived illegally by boat? Can the minister also confirm that now more than 2,000 illegal entrants are arriving on boats each month and that there are more than 12,000 illegal entrants in detention? Can the minister also advise the Senate about what policies the government pursued to achieve this outcome and whether, upon sober reflection, it now considers those policies to have been a complete failure?

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot confirm anything that Senator Cash is saying because, of course, people are seeking asylum. She continues to refer to them as 'illegal entrants' in some way. They are irregular maritime arrivals, they are seeking asylum and they are subject to a processing system that has been recommended to us by an expert working panel.

And, no, I cannot confirm Senator Cash's proposition, and I reject completely what is inherent in her question. In fact, there have been ebbs and flows of people coming on boats over a long period of time, dating right back to 1996. If you look at when the former government was in power, some 13,609 came into Australia by this method. We are obviously facing a number more since then; in fact, in 2012 we have had 15,827. Over time, of course, we expect our processing arrangements to start to impact on these numbers and to draw them down.

Over time, with the implementation of the expert working panel recommendations, we do expect these numbers to drop. We have, of course, implemented those recommendations and we are continuing to. Recently, Minister Bowen made an announcement about reopening some additional detention facilities to cope with the load on the Australian mainland and also to introduce bridging visas to sustain the no-advantage principle that is embedded in our regional processing.

The coalition could, of course, support the Malaysian arrangement, which we feel would make this approach far more successful and have— (Time expired)

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Will the minister now admit that the government made monumental policy mistakes when it reversed the Howard government's policies by closing offshore detention, refusing to turn back boats when it was safe and possible to do so and sending clear signals to people smugglers that Australia was open for their business once again?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's not safe and it's not possible!

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not what Houston said, Penny, nor what Kevin Rudd said.

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! When there is silence we will proceed. I will call the minister when there is silence.

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once again I am able to reject completely Senator Cash's proposition in her question. The fact of the matter is that the federal Labor government is implementing the expert panel recommendations. We have a plan.

The coalition maintain that somehow they had a perfect solution. This is completely incorrect, because there was nothing about the temporary protection visa approach that was worthy, and that is why we got rid of it. The temporary protection visas and the other measures that the coalition had in place did not work. They continually stand up in this place and claim that they did, but if you look at the numbers—the numbers of boat arrivals and, indeed, the numbers of people on Nauru—under the coalition who were eventually processed and became permanent residents in Australia you see that their claim that they had a system that worked is a complete fallacy.

The fact is that times change; we have a challenge that we are addressing and taking independent advice on, and Senator Cash— (Time expired)

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Given that prior to the 2007 election former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised to turn boats around and send them back, and that in 2002 Ms Gillard said that turning boats around disrupted people-smuggling operations tremendously, what logical reason does the government have for now refusing to turn around illegal boats if it is safe and possible to do so? Further, can the minister confirm that in the financial year 2002-03 the number of boats that arrived was zero and that the number of people who arrived was zero?

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is really incumbent upon me to take Senator Cash to task with the ridiculous claims that she is putting forward about the coalition's record on this matter. There is no substance to her proposition that somehow the coalition government had a solution to this problem. They did not—and they stood across this chamber and supported us in the implementation of the legislation that gave effect to the expert panel's advice. We are putting that in place.

With regard to turning back the boats: the coalition knows full well that it is not possible. For that to be possible Indonesia would have to agree, and they do not. For that to be possible, it would have to be safe to do so. We know because of the advice we have received from the ADF that it is not safe to do so. And yet the coalition continue to walk in here and promote this claptrap as some kind of policy solution; it is just not true.