Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I, like all of my colleagues in this place, from all sides, rise with a heavy heart to participate in this debate, given the events of a few days past, where lives were lost and trauma was experienced and where some families will clearly never be the same again. In this contribution, I do not want to prejudge the bona fides of those who are seeking asylum. There are processes in place to do that as a matter of course, and those discussions are for another occasion. But I do want to look at the question of why the boats are coming, why the people smuggler trade is increasing and what can be done about it. It is for that reason that I proposed the matter of public importance we are debating today.

The starting point has to be that the people-smuggling trade is a trade in human misery. It is evil and I am sure everyone in this chamber condemns it. I think that should be the starting point of any debate over people smuggling and trafficking, which unfortunately is increasing.

This government does have a bit of a record of not honouring its commitments. There are the obvious ones that seem almost too obvious to mention, but I will: the commitment, for example, not to introduce a carbon tax. The government is rightly condemned for its failure to honour its commitments. But there is one commitment that this government did honour, lock, stock and barrel. That was the commitment before the 2007 election to systematically dismantle the border protection regime that was in place, to end offshore processing at places such as Nauru and Manus Island and to end temporary protection visas. As part of that, the then opposition changed language and rhetoric. The Howard government at that time was firm, not just in policy and resolve but in its language, to send a clear message to the people smugglers that we would have no truck with them. Kevin Rudd, as Leader of the Opposition, and Julia Gillard, as the shadow immigration minister, were the architects of the policy to dismantle the effective border protection regime. They were the architects of a policy which set about quite deliberately to remove those disincentives, those deterrents, which were in place for people smugglers. That is why I become more than a little frustrated every time I hear senators on the other side of this place say that they wanted break the people smugglers' business model. It frustrates me because the people smugglers have been operating according to the business model which the Australian Labor Party designed. If you remove temporary protection visas, if you end offshore processing, you are giving the people smugglers a good product to sell.