Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

It is funny when we come into this place and listen to those on the other side trying to rewrite history. But this is one time when they are simply not going to get away with that because the Australian people are on to them. Take the matter of border control. It is amazing that we have a Prime Minister who clearly thinks denial is a place in Northern Africa. Well, denial is in his mind if he thinks we do not have a border security problem. We have had 108 people attempting to breach our borders over the last four months. If that is not something happening to our border protection, then I do not know what is.

Labor have been winding back our border security from the very first day that they have been in government. They started off on 29 November 2007, when they shelved their election promise, which was pretty pathetic in any event: ‘What we’re going to do is have this new coastguard, so we get the existing vessels and we get some paint and we change their colour.’ There has been no ordering of new vessels and there have been no new personnel, just more spin as they put all of that on hold. The most important aspect of that, homeland security, has been shelved too. But the thing that is terrifying those people who seek to traffic in human misery is of course the big plan of the Rudd government—they are going to have a review! They are shaking in their boots. I can imagine them packing up their bags and closing down business. It all absolutely beggars belief.

Labor claim they are all about border security and they are all about building our borders. But what did they do in the last budget? They said they were going to cut $51.5 million from the budget. That is a pretty clear indication of how fair dinkum those opposite are about border protection. Of course every time you do something like this you send a signal. We have an environment in which communication is almost instant. If you have a policy change in Australia, that is detected and interpreted within nanoseconds. Those people who are in the business of trafficking in human misery are very well in touch with the policies of the Australian government. Whether it is a tough policy or whether it is a policy that is just simply a yawn is something that is of special interest to them.

We know of seven known attempts by people smugglers on 13 August, 30 September, 7 October, 20 October, 11 November, 19 November and 27 November. To all those people in the defence forces who may be listening today, this information is no surprise to you; it is deja vu because the business of border security happens at that time of year. It happens over the Christmas period for two reasons. One of the reasons is the strong south-easterlies that gust up to 40 knots in areas for about 10 days at a time. You can punch your lights out into 40 knots, but if you have not got a particularly good boat you are not going to make it. It is very hard, very ugly and absolutely impossible unless you have a reasonably serious motorised vessel. So the people traffickers wait until this time of year to have people depart.

The other reason is that it is part of Indonesian folklore—and this is well known to people traffickers—that at Christmas time Australians have a very special culture: they all go on holiday and they all have a bit too much to drink and have a good time—a great part of our culture. Whilst we are all quite proud of that culture, it is interpreted to occur at a time when the Navy is distracted by other business. So quite specifically the people smugglers and those who choose to come and steal our sovereign resources leave their shores and come here at that time. So here the government go: ‘Right at Christmas time let’s make a strategic decision to give the Navy a holiday.’ Let me tell you: the Navy do not want a holiday. Navy people love their job. They take their job seriously. They know that they are a fundamental part of border protection. We have the weasel words from Senator Wong when she indicates: ‘No, we’re not stopping. There’ll be no operational difference. We haven’t sold any of the boats.’ Yes, but they are parked up in Darwin harbour with crews on furlough. No weasel words are going to persuade the Australian people that that is any different.

People need to understand and recognise that this is a humanitarian crisis. I can remember on Christmas Day in 1994 standing on the deck of Jabiru with 36 kids barely able to stand up. That is the sort of humanitarian crisis that sending the wrong signal will cause. I think it is an absolute outrage that those on the other side have taken an excellent border control system and its excellent processes and are now unwinding it all. We are sending a clear signal that Australia’s borders are now open for business—and that is an outrage. (Time expired)