Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I am pleased to report to the House that it is 1,053 days since we have had a successful people-smuggling venture to this country. And it should be celebrated. I know my colleagues are proud of the fact that we have been able to stop the boats. The fact is that Labor presided over a complete mess. When John Howard left office in 2007 there were four people in detention, including no children. Labor's mess saw 50,000 people arrive on 800 boats, 17 new detention centres open, and thousands and thousands of children and adults put into detention.

What we have seen today, after an action was taken in the Supreme Court in Victoria as a result of the disastrous policies set up by the Labor Party—an action taken against the Commonwealth—is a settlement of $70 million to plaintiffs represented by none other than the ambulance-chasing lawyer firm of Slater and Gordon, who pocketed a neat $20 million.

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