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

Under this government, the quick, rapid exit to Nauru and Manus Island of people who come to Australia directly has been put in place. We are actually putting the substance that is making the difference into that arrangement, because the right policy is now in the right hands and it is getting the right results.

The other thing that we did to get these results when we came to government was to introduce temporary protection visas. When we did that we were honouring the promise that we made to the people of Australia to deny permanent residency to people who came to Australia illegally by boat. This was endorsed by their mandate at the election. Those opposite teamed up with the Greens. They voted to honour the promise of people smugglers to people who had come illegally to Australia by boat. What those opposite did not understand was that you cannot say you are not going to resettle anyone in Australia permanently and then, at the same time, hand out permanent protection visas to people who came illegally to Australia by boat. The previous minister for immigration, the former Manager of Government Business in the Senate, handed out 539 permanent visas to people who arrived illegally by boat. That was 269 on average per month. The member for Gorton handed out 195 per month. That was 977 in total. But none was better than the member for McMahon who had a total of 11,122, with an average—a gold medal performance—of 384 per month. You cannot have policies that work against each other. It was a government that was divided against itself. It was divided on borders, and that was why they were such a sorry show.

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