House debates

Tuesday, 14 August 2018

Questions without Notice

National Security

3:00 pm

Photo of Ben MortonBen Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister update the House on the benefits of a strong and consistent border protection agenda? Is the minister aware of any ideas that will jeopardise our border security?

3:01 pm

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

I thank the honourable member for his question. This government has worked every day to fulfil our election promise, and that was that we would restore order and that we would secure our borders. We have done that, but the problem is that the people smugglers have not gone away. The threat has not disappeared. As we're seeing, in the Mediterranean at the moment people are drowning at sea trying to get to Europe. People in Indonesia—about 14,000 people at the moment—are waiting to get onto boats. At the moment, they won't give over money because they don't believe that under this government they will get to this country.

We've turned back 33 boats over the course of Operation Sovereign Borders, and we've disrupted over 70 ventures, so we've stopped boats leaving ports. We've been able to work with intelligence and law enforcement agencies across the region to thwart those attempts to bring people—innocent men, women and children—by boat to our country. What people know is that under this government there will be a consistency, that our purpose will be very clear and that we are going to continue with the plan because we know that it works. We know that it has taken a long time to clean up Labor's mess. Tragically, 8,000 children went in to detention under Labor. They established the processing centres on Manus and on Nauru. I'm pleased to update the House that we have so far been able to remove 1,106 people from Manus and Nauru that Labor put onto Manus and Nauru. It includes over 300 people going to the United States. We are working day and night to make sure that we get people off Manus and Nauru as quickly as possible.

What's interesting here is the contrast with the Leader of the Opposition. The Australian public knows this Leader of the Opposition quite often doesn't tell the truth. His whole background is littered with examples. He was a union boss promising workers better rights, but what did he do when he was a union boss? He negotiated with big businesses to take away penalty rates from workers around the country. That's what he did when he was a union boss. What did this Leader of the Opposition do at the last election? He promised he would replicate the Operation Sovereign Borders model. He has worked day and night since then to water down Labor's policy. He is effectively promising the Australian public that, if he's elected Prime Minister at the next election, the boats will restart, that the deaths at sea will recommence and that detention centres will be refilled. Mr Speaker, that is the reality. I would say to you and, through you, to the Australian people: don't trust a word that this man says. Everybody in his history, whether it's in this place or in his work life, doesn't trust him. He's double-crossed most people that he's ever dealt with, and the Australian public should know that, even when he looks them in the eye on border protection, he's not telling the truth.