Rick Wilson (O'Connor, 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 the humanitarian benefits of the government's border protection policies?

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

I thank most sincerely the member for O'Connor. He is a great hard worker in his electorate and he is very serious about the issue of border protection, as this government is. We inherited an incredible mess when we came to government. There were 52,000 people who had arrived on 821 boats under Labor. Tragically, 1,200 people had drowned at sea and there had been an $11 billion blow-out under Labor when it came to border protection.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney will desist.

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

We have been able to stop the boats. It is an issue, which of course is ongoing because people smugglers are still lurking in the shadows waiting for Bill Shorten to be elected at the next election. That is what they are waiting for because they know that Labor is weak when it comes to border protection.

We have not had a successful people-smuggling venture to this country in over 300 days and we will continue to work with the agencies to make sure that we can stare down this threat. The Australian public knows that if you cannot manage your borders you cannot manage national security, and I think that is very telling. There is, of course, an enormous dividend because we have been able to—at the same time as we have been able to stop people coming illegally to our country by boat—increase the numbers of people who come to our country under the humanitarian and refugee programs. In actual fact, we will grow the program so that an extra 7½ thousand people will be resettled in Australia over the coming years. In particular—this is a very important point—the government has committed a minimum of 2,200 places for Syrians and 2,200 places for Iraqis in 2014-15. That is the human dividend of being able to clean up Labor's mess—to stop the boats and to stop the drownings at sea.

The Australian public must ask why Labor cannot adopt the successful policies of this government. I will not win the applause of my colleagues here but I want to give the ABC a plug because tonight on the ABC we see the second episode of The Killing Season. There is a sense of deja vue coming across in this place. All of us watched Labor tear itself apart in the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years and I look across to the smiling assassin. She has her eyes on this bloke. Do not worry about that, Madam Speaker. If people wonder why Bill Shorten is soft when it comes to border protection, they should have a look behind him.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member should refer to members by their correct title.

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

Fair point, Madam Speaker. The member for Sydney, the smiling assassin—I stand corrected. Let me make this point. If the Australian public cannot comprehend why Labor will not adopt the policies that have stopped the boats, it is for this reason: national conference is coming up and the Left is going to tear him apart.