Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

That is all he said. His evidence was straightforward. In some cases you can do it and in some cases you cannot, and we have never said anything different to that. What we have said is that, where it is safe, you can turn them around—and it has been done.

This government refuses to do this, but I am not surprised. This government will not turn a boat back when this minister at the table cannot even get detained protesters off a roof. That sent a big, strong message to Indonesia, I am sure. Protesters can run around not only on the roof of a detention centre but also on the roof of his own office. On those occasions, thank goodness for Andrew Scipione and the New South Wales Police, because they were prepared to act in that incident, but in the other incident the protesters sat up on the roof for goodness knows how long. The minister's department put in a word after the protesters got on the roof. They put in a phone call to the New South Wales Police and asked them if they could get them down from the roof at Villawood. As the minister knows, the delay by the department and others putting proper arrangements in place at Villawood for the New South Wales Police prevented that from happening. That is our policy and that was the evidence and testimony of the minister's own department at the detention inquiry.

Temporary protection visas, equally, provide the opportunity to ensure that there is no guarantee of permanent residency in this country, and the measures that we have announced as a coalition in opposition go further to ensure that that is the message would be presented. We have also outlined many other measures, which we have spoken clearly about in the lead-up to the last election and since, that we practised in government, particularly in the area of regional cooperation. We believe that the Bali process that we started should focus on stronger border protection in our region. It should focus on enforcement. It should focus on intelligence. It should focus on border control.

I applaud the Malaysian government for the measures they introduced for biometric identification at all ports of entry. That is something that should be paralleled right throughout the region. It is a measure I support and it is a measure I commend where the government has supported it. When I was in Malaysia I asked that the government also seek to have access to that information to help us with identification processes, and I look forward to the minister reporting on that when he has the opportunity to learn the answer to that question.

At the end of the day, this government abolished the policies that worked, refuses to restore the policies that worked and remains locked in a prison of failure when it comes to its stubborn obstinacy to implement proven policies on border protection. (Time expired)

See this speech in context