Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Doesn’t it say a lot about the Labor Party’s position on this matter that, when asked to justify its failed border protection policy, it defends itself by quoting the views of a man who was Prime Minister 30 years ago? The fact is that today, in 2010, Australians are losing confidence in your policies and in the approach you are taking to border protection.

Today in question time we heard from the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Evans, the old view that the fact that the boats are arriving in such large numbers is just a coincidence. He claims that it has nothing to do with their policies and nothing to do with their announced change of policy in 2008, immediately after which the boats began to arrive in significant numbers. He claims: ‘It has nothing to do with that. We are the victims of international circumstances. Those circumstances have conspired to change and to suddenly thrust all of these people onto boats and to cross the sea to Australia’s northern shores.’ I am sorry, but Australians do not believe that.

In recent opinion polls, Australians have demonstrated very clearly that they have lost confidence. They have not lost confidence in international security arrangements or in peacekeeping efforts in different parts of the world, but they have lost confidence in the Rudd government’s border protection policies because those policies are the ones that are now letting Australians down and failing to contain a problem of truly significant proportions to Australia’s border security. The fact is that in 2001, when the Howard government changed the settings on unlawful arrivals, we saw a change in the number of boat arrivals. The number plummeted. As Senator Brandis indicated, we went from hundreds of boat arrivals down to just a trickle—to three or so a year—for the next six years. That, we were told, was a coincidence. International conditions, we were told, had changed sufficiently to allow the boat numbers to reduce. But, in August 2008, the government again changed the policy. It softened the border protection policy in order to, in its own words, make it more compassionate. The boat arrivals began to surge again but, apparently, that was another coincidence. International circumstances had conspired to make people board the boats once again.

Never mind the fact that in 2001 there were more than 12 million refugees classified in the world by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2008, when this surge began again, there were less than 10½ million refugees around the world and many of the regional conflicts which had characterised previous years, such as in places like East Timor, the Solomon Islands and so on, had ceased to take place. Notwithstanding those facts, somehow the surge has begun again. The point is that we know that the government’s policies have led directly to that surge and so does the government, because the government tried a few weeks ago to change its own policy by announcing a freeze on the processing of Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum seekers—coincidentally, the nationalities from which the most boat arrivals were coming. The signal was: ‘Don’t come here. We are not going to process any Afghan or Sri Lankan arrivals, so there is no point coming to Australia.’ Of course, that policy failed spectacularly within days of being announced. Since April, when that was announced, 33 boats have come and 1,492 arrivals, and counting, have taken place. It is a clear indication that this government has lost control of its policies.

The fact is that the questions asked by Senator Williams in question time today demonstrate very eloquently the attitude of people smugglers and their clients to Australia’s present open-door policy. It is that attitude, it is that perception of what the policy is, which is driving the business of those people smugglers. They can go to people in places like Indonesia and beyond and say, ‘We have something for you. We can get you into Australian waters and you’ll be taken into custody and you will get residency in Australia.’ That is the product they are selling. This government’s policy, to its shame, builds in a role for those people smugglers, it builds in a role for their product, and that is why we have seen this surge in boat arrivals. Do not insult the intelligence of Australians, senators opposite, by telling us that it is just a coincidence, that international push factors are causing this. Try changing your policy—and you know all about that; you are very good at changing your policy. Do not get too smug and complacent about what you are doing now, Senator Pratt. You could well be facing a backflip on this policy very soon. You know very well that this policy is what is driving these boat arrivals and that is what needs to change.