Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister update the House on Operation Sovereign Borders? Are there any threats to the ongoing success of this policy?

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

I thank the member for Gilmore very much for her question and her interest in making sure that our country has secure borders. Operation Sovereign Borders has been incredibly successful. In fact, I can update the House today that it has been 233 days since the last successful people-smuggling boat arrived in our country.

At the last election the Australian public spoke very clearly about the fact that they wanted a government that could secure our borders. Under Labor's time, between 2007 and 2013, they completely lost control of our borders, and a government that loses control of its borders cannot guarantee the safety of the Australian public. So what the public were seeking at the last election was leadership, and in the Prime Minister on boats they have strong leadership. They have absolutely strong leadership, because not only have we stopped 1,200 people drowning at sea; we have stopped 50,000 people that arrived on 800 boats under Labor who would seek to come to our country tomorrow, given the opportunity.

Labor have demonstrated again, as recently as last weekend, that they remain completely divided when it comes to border security. My old friend the member for Sydney was out on television, on Peter van Onselen's program on Sky on the weekend, saying that they would not adopt the coalition's policy, which has made Operation Sovereign Borders a success. They would stop the policy of turn-backs where it is safe to do so. The Leader of the Opposition, in all of the words that he has uttered since the weekend, has not repudiated any of those remarks.

A turnaround in Labor's policy on boats would spell disaster for our country. It would spell disaster because it would spell a return to the failed policies that Labor presided over when they were last in government. Bear in mind that when Labor came to government in 2007 there were no children in detention. There were four people in total in held detention. And yet during Labor's reign 1,992 children were held in detention. As of today, that number is close to 100 children on the mainland here in Australia, and the number will go further south.

At the same time, given the success of Operation Sovereign Borders and the strong leadership shown by the Prime Minister in relation to securing our borders, we have been able to increase the number of humanitarian places that we can offer to people. That is the human dividend that we can provide to people around the world who would seek refuge in our country. We have stopped people drowning at sea, we have closed 11 detention centres, we have returned a dividend of $2½ billion to the budget and all we see from the other side is complete division.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

The member for Sydney, who wants to chime in now, leads the division within the Labor Party because she is the champion of the Left, and Bill Shorten cannot contain her or the Left on this issue.