House debates

Monday, 14 July 2014

Questions without Notice

Asylum Seekers

3:03 pm

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

All of those things have delivered $2½ billion of savings in this budget. That is the dividend of stronger border protection. Today we announced further investment in stronger borders through the establishment of the National Border Targeting Centre, and that was supported not just by the establishment of the centre with $30 million but by a $250 million investment in the broader intelligence and systems capabilities that make such a centre tick so that we could integrate the agencies. Nine specific agencies have now been brought together under a strategic border command, not just to deal with people-smuggling threats but to deal with the issues of terrorism, with the issues of transnational crime and with the many other threats on our borders for those who may seek to do this country harm.

What we have seen from those opposite this past fortnight is a retreat even beyond the weakness of their policies in government when it comes to issues on our border. What we have seen them do is walk away from the enhanced screening policy that they actually pursued in government and supported. They are now weaker in opposition on boarder protection than when they were in government, which is quite an achievement for them to be putting in place. They want to reintroduce the water taxi service. That is the implication of what the opposition have been saying for the last fortnight: people should be water-taxied to Australia rather than turning boats back where it is safe to do so, which is the policy of this government.

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