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

In question time today, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Evans, in response to a question that was asked by Senator Humphries, actually defended the arrival of what is now the 92nd boat since the Labor government commenced the winding back of the coalition’s strong border protection policies. The arrival of what is now the 92nd boat since August 2008 was held up as a policy success by the minister. That is an absolute joke. It is even more of a joke when you look at what the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said when she was the opposition’s spokesman for immigration under the Howard government’s watch. When a second boat arrived, she said, ‘Another boat, another policy failure.’ If 92 boats are considered by Rudd Labor to be a policy success, God help Australia when they finally admit to a policy failure.

The people of Australia have long been asking, ‘What is it going to take for this government to end its state of denial in relation to its failed border protection policies and admit that the special deals and the policy changes that it has made have weakened Australia’s strong border protection regime and have issued an open invitation to the people smugglers?’ Do you think it might be the arrival of the 60th boat? No, because the arrival of the 60th boat is now a dim distant memory. What about the arrival of the 70th boat? Did it take responsibility then? No. What about the arrival of the 80th boat? No responsibility was taken then. And what do we have now? The arrival of the 92nd boat. This is the Prime Minister’s response:

We believe that we have got the balance of policy right.

You have got to be kidding me. The only balance that the Prime Minister has got is that which is in favour of the people smugglers. Rudd Labor is the best friend that a people smuggler will ever have. This is catastrophic policy failure, possibly like we have never seen in the history of border protection in this country. Mr Rudd’s pre-election promise to the people of Australia that he would keep our borders secure was nothing more and nothing less than a vote-buying statement. Now, with the complete, total and utter failure of Labor’s border protection policies, Mr Rudd is interested only in scoring cheap political points to deflect away from his policy failings. Despite the arrival of the 92nd boat, this government refuses to take responsibility.

With Rudd Labor, it is always someone else’s fault. It can never honestly look at a policy failure and say, ‘Yes, that was our fault; we shouldn’t have made that change.’ It is never, ever Kevin Rudd’s fault. When it comes to the failure of Labor’s border protection policies, it is consistently full of excuses. We saw it yet again in question time today. The government’s favourite excuse for the border protection failure is that it is always due to the push factors, but it is never, ever due to pull factors created by this government. We heard the minister in question time yet again give this as an excuse for the 30 per cent increase in unlawful boat arrivals to Australia in 2009. This is an excuse that has well and truly run its course.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees last week reported that push factors have been easing in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, providing increasing opportunities for those previously seeking asylum to return home. But can the minister stand here in this place and actually admit that? No, he cannot, because that then undermines the excuse that it is global push factors that are bringing unlawful people to this country. Then we had the comments from Dr Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who said on ABC’s Lateline in November 2009:

I think this talk about the push factor is an over-exaggeration. If there were, as I said, a push factor, why didn’t they go across to India which is so close by, 22 miles away from Sri Lanka? Instead they head all the way to Australia. There must be another reason than simple push factor here.

Yes, there is another reason. We know what that reason is: it is called the Rudd Labor pull factor. We have all known, because it is on the record, that for several months now the number of illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka has been declining. The government refuses to release this information because, if it does, once again its excuse in relation to ‘the push factors’ will be undermined.

Those on the other side continue to spruik the rhetoric that they have not taken steps to soften the coalition’s strong border protection policies. They have. They have abolished the Pacific solution, they have abolished temporary protection visas, they have abolished the 45-day rule and they did a special deal for those on the Oceanic Viking. If that is not taking steps to soften Australia’s border protection regime, then I do not know what is. What has been the effect of those Labor policy decisions? The effect is quite clear. We have seen nothing more and nothing less than the biggest surge in people-smuggling since 2001-02 when the coalition’s tough strategy put people smugglers out of business.

According to the monthly statistics of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, there were 1,749 people detained on Christmas Island as at 12 February 2010—well in excess, as we know, of the capacity for Christmas Island. And what is the Labor government’s response to this? It issued a press release last year when the Christmas Island statistics had reached 1,287 and said that Christmas Island had a reconfigured capacity of 1,400 which would be boosted to 1,600 by December. We have now exceeded that figure. That is the Labor government’s policy response to the border protection issue: ‘We will just increase the capacity of Christmas Island’—great news for the people smugglers but hardly the decision of a responsible government. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, is correct when he says that people are entitled to think that the Prime Minister has dudded them when he assured them that Australia’s security would be safeguarded by his government. That was nothing more and nothing less than Ruddspeak for, ‘I want your vote and I will say anything to get it.’