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

I thank the member for Mitchell for his question. He is a champion of Western Sydney.

When it comes to border protection and doing it properly you need to do three things. The first thing is you need to know what works. The second thing you need to do is have the resolve and strength to stand by what works, particularly in the face of opposition and criticism. And you need to have the competence to implement what works—safely, effectively and sustainably. That is what this government has done on border protection. It has been 92 days since the single, solitary venture that came to our shores earlier this year. The detention centres are closing. The costs are falling to the tune of $2½ billion in the budget because of our success to date. And the children in detention centres are leaving; they are going out. The number of children in detention centres is declining. As the Prime Minister and the foreign minister well know, no longer is it the case, in our regional engagements, that people-smuggling is the elephant in the room as it was under Labor. We got to the point where 4,000 people were turning up each month illegally on boats, as occurred under the member for Watson's watch.

But in contrast to that, we have what was put in place by those opposite when they were in government. It was a cocktail. It was a recipe—the indecision, division and the fundamental weakness meant those opposite were a people smuggler's picnic during the time they were in government.

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