Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Sterle said that today’s matter of public importance on the inability of the Rudd Labor government to protect Australia’s border security is a waste of time. Senator Sterle sees it as a waste of time discussing Australia’s border security. Senator Sterle, I will remind you that all serious policymakers—and you will certainly never be mistaken as one—know that a fundamental responsibility of a federal government is to ensure the security of its nation. Therefore, ensuring that Australia’s borders are properly protected is a fundamental responsibility of the current government. It is a fundamental responsibility which Labor is failing at. However, what the current government is very, very good at is spin over substance. How do we know that? Last week, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, in answer to a question without notice regarding whether Rudd Labor’s new border protection policies were actually working, said yes. The minister’s answer was:

The Rudd Labor government remains absolutely committed to strong border security measures.

With the evidence that is now before us in relation to the increase in unlawful arrivals, that answer demonstrates to all Australians just how out of touch with reality the Labor government is. I ask as part of this debate today: which part of ‘Labor has gone soft on border protection’ doesn’t the minister understand? Which part of ‘Labor is unable to manage Australia’s border security’ does the minister just not get? Is it the part where the evidence shows that Labor’s softer border protection measures have given the green light to people smugglers? Maybe it is the fact that, as at 13 September 2009, 31 new boats and 1,456 new asylum seekers have attempted to enter Australia illegally since August 2008. What is the minister’s response to this in question time? He pathetically tries to make light of the fact that the opposition has called for an urgent inquiry into the effect of the government’s immigration policies on people-smuggling. This is what the minister said:

We are not proposing an inquiry because we are proposing to continue strong action to try and combat people-smuggling. We are absolutely committed to the task at hand.

The only task at hand that the Labor government is committed to is to systematically and deliberately unravel the suite of measures that the Howard government put in place over time that collectively gave Australia strong border protection.

Why has the coalition called for an urgent inquiry? Because, based on last week’s rate of unlawful arrivals, we could see between 8,000 and 10,000 people attempting to enter Australia unlawfully in one year.