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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We put in place temporary protection visas which were disallowed by Labor and the Greens—exactly what they did back in 2008. And guess what happened after it—50,000 people turned up on 800 boats and almost 1,200 people died. On the weekend we still heard the shadow minister unrepentant about the fact that they do not think temporary protection visas have anything to do with this proposition. What those opposite need to understand is: this government will not provide permanent visas to those who arrived illegally by boat. It will not happen—not ever. And if you want to try me on it, you try me on it. The people smugglers have tried this government on these issues and they have failed, and we are prevailing. If you want to try to intimidate this side on border protection, do your best, because you will fail. This government will not buckle on our borders. We will not buckle to people smugglers; we will not roll over to the chanting and choruses that come from around the country calling on people to roll back border protection measures. We know the Labor Party will do it; we know the Labor Party will do it every time. But this government will never buckle on our borders—ever.

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