Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question goes to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister please update the House on the importance of a strong and consistent approach to securing Australia's borders? Is the minister aware of any risks associated with alternative approaches?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Fisher for his question. Obviously, the government has been strong and consistent on border protection for a number of years—necessarily so. When we came into government in 2013, there was a disaster. That was because the Labor Party had given up sovereignty of this country and allowed 50,000 people to arrive on 800 boats, and 1,200 people had tragically drowned at sea. During the election, we said that, if Labor was elected, the boats would restart. People thought at the time, 'Well, of course, they would say that.' The reality is that boats had already been put on the water during the election campaign in anticipation of the member for Maribyrnong—remember him—becoming the Prime Minister of this country. That's the reality. A vessel with 41 people on board, headed our way from Sri Lanka, almost went to the bottom of the ocean, and fortunately those people were saved and returned to Sri Lanka. There was another vessel, with 20 people on board, and we were able to intercept that and return those 20 people. Those people no doubt would have landed here under the Labor Party.

There is an amazing difference of approach on this policy between our side of this chamber and the other side. But it's hard to know—because I am asked about alternative approaches—what the position of the Labor Party is today. You might remember that in the last parliament it was very hard to know what Labor stood for because their policy chopped and changed. Remember our old friend the member for Blair? He was a champion of the side! He was working up, over a three-year period, to ask a question on boats. But he never got there. He is a man who has been cut down in his prime, and it's sorry to watch. He was building up to a question. There's no doubt about it! The only problem is: he didn't know what question to ask, because the Labor Party have been in favour of turnbacks; they've been opposed to turnbacks; they've been in favour of offshore processing; they've been against offshore processing; they've been in favour of temporary protection visas; they of course are opposed to temporary protection visas. All of that which has worked to stop the boats, to make sure that we can get kids out of detention, to make sure that we don't have people drowning at sea—the Labor Party still this very day stand opposed to every one of those measures.

I can inform the House that we have dealt with a vessel on water in recent days and we have returned that vessel, which contained five male Sri Lankans, to Sri Lanka. I praise all of those officers who have been involved in that operation. (Time expired)