David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The one undeniable fact, the one salient feature that everybody knows about this government is that they are utterly soft on border protection. They are just completely removed from this item, this issue of public policy, this important area for all Australians. They have a group of ministers who are utterly asleep at the wheel. There have been seven incidents since August of this year. Firstly, on 13 August, police in Indonesia arrested nine Afghan asylum seekers and their Indonesian organisers on the island of Flores. They were coming to Australia in a fishing boat. Secondly, on 13 September, the Royal Australian Navy intercepted 14 people—12 passengers and two crew, including a woman—on a boat near Ashmore Reef. Thirdly, on 7 October, a boat carrying 17 people was intercepted by the Navy after it arrived at an offshore oil production and storage facility. That is a very frightening reality for all of us. Fourthly, on 20 October, authorities in East Timor detained 16 Sri Lankans and four Indonesians trying to make their way to Australia illegally by boat. Fifthly, on 11 November, Indonesian authorities found and detained 40 Iraqis, including nine children, stranded on the remote Sumbawa Island after attempting to reach Australia. Sixthly, on 19 November, HMAS Ararat plucked 12 people from a sinking boat 80 nautical miles off Ashmore Reef. Lastly, at Shark Bay, at a latitude below that of Brisbane, Customs and fisheries officers intercepted a boat carrying 12 Sri Lankan men after campers at False Entrance in Western Australia called the police.

So now we are reduced to having fishermen who are living out of camping trailers, with fishing tackle, defending our borders. They are the ones ringing the police. They are the ones reporting and providing the intelligence. This is what we have come to under Labor. It is a wonderful, wonderful reality! After all of this, we have the Navy then saying that they are going to have two months off over Christmas. The message from this is: ‘Come on down! The going is absolutely good for you to sail your boats down to Australia, because we’re asleep at the wheel. We have ministers who do not really care, and we have other, more important, things to worry about.’

I want to talk about the Boulder Cartel Fishing Club. As a former resident of Kalgoorlie, I am sure that these fishermen have great acumen, and I hope and trust that they enjoyed their holiday. It could have been a very unhappy event for them. These boat people may well have been carrying animals with goodness knows what diseases. They may even have been violent. They may have had firearms. There could have been all manner of chaos. And this is at Shark Bay—as I said, lower than Brisbane in latitude. I am very thankful that these right-minded citizens did everything right. They rang the authorities. They alerted them. Heaven knows what these ministers were doing while these boat people sailed their boat down.

Of course, the minister says, ‘I’ve called for a report.’ If I had been the minister, I would have wanted to know on the very day they were discovered how they got there, whether there was a mother ship, how they got through Coastwatch, how they got through the Navy. I would want to know, and I would report to the Senate. This is an outrageous scandal to be brushed aside by these people who do not care about the protection of Australia’s agriculture, protection of Australia’s borders, protection against insurgents and terrorists. The government do not give a fig. For the minister to be here today four days later and say, ‘I’ve called for a report,’ is an absolute disgrace. The government are utterly soft on border protection. They are asleep at the wheel, and it is about time the public woke up to these people who are running these very important ministries and demand more.