Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I have provided the advice that was provided by AFP Commissioner Negus, in which he confirmed that the intelligence report had not been provided to ministers and that the report was an operationally focused document and that it would be inappropriate to provide it to ministers. The advice has been that intelligence documents, such as the AFP strategic intelligence forecast, are for operational use by the AFP and are not produced as a basis for policy advice to ministers; rather they guide the operational decisions of the AFP and its partner agencies. So the opposition may wish to ask a continued series of questions about this document, but those questions have been answered very clearly: the document is an operationally focused document and a document that has not been provided to ministers.

The opposition should be reminded that this is a difficult policy area. It is an area which is the subject of consideration by governments around the world. There are a great many issues contributing to the increase in asylum seekers internationally. There are a great many factors contributing to what is a complex and difficult policy problem. The government has made clear its commitment to ensuring a strong border protection regime. The government has provided some $654 million in the most recent budget, dedicated to a whole-of-government strategy— (Time expired)