Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

To set the factual background for my contribution to this debate on the disallowance motion, I advise the Senate as follows. Operation Sovereign Borders is being successfully implemented. Despite the best effort of the Greens and those on the opposition benches it is achieving its stated goals. To date, we have seen an 80 per cent reduction in illegal boat arrivals coming into this country, and that is in but the first 72 days of the operation of Operation Sovereign Borders. This, of course, is in part due to the reintroduction of temporary protection visas.

This evening the Australian Labor Party will be making it clear to all Australians where they stand on the issue of border protection. They will be given a clear choice: the choice of whether to stand firm with the government, which is implementing policies which are effective and are going towards achieving their stated goal, which is to stop the boats, or they can side with their alleged former alliance partners, the Australian Greens, and remove a central plank of the government's border protection policies, being temporary protection visas. In other words, those that are now in opposition can show the Australian people that they either stand for something, which is strong border protection policies, or, if they decide to side with the Australian Greens, confirm to the Australian people that (a) they learnt nothing from the result of the 7 September election and (b) they stand for nothing more and nothing less than promulgating the people smugglers' business model.

Let us remind ourselves of what occurred when the former government wound back the Howard government's proven border protection policies, which included temporary protection visas. As a result of that deliberate decision by the former government, we saw over 50,000 people arrive illegally in Australia, we saw a budget blow-out of in excess of $11 billion, we saw the confirmed tragic loss of over 1,100 lives at sea and we saw over 8,000 children placed in detention. The choice for the opposition is therefore very clear: more of the same disastrous policies if they side with the Greens and support the disallowance motion, or they can send a very clear message to Australians and to the people smugglers that the opposition want to stop the boats.

After a catastrophic five years of the former government, this government has now reintroduced temporary protection visas. In 2007, when the former Howard government lost office, there were but four people in immigration detention and none of them were children. Contrast that with the over 8,000 children that were placed in detention by the former government. In August 2008 the then Labor government and former senator Chris Evans, who was the relevant minister at the time, made the decision to wind back the proven border protection policies of the former Howard government, abolishing the Pacific solution, which included temporary protection visas. I have already outlined for the Senate the cost of Labor's border protection policies, a cost which the Australian people acknowledged when they cast their votes on 7 September. After almost six years of failed policies from those that are now in opposition, the Australian people elected the Abbott coalition government with a very clear mandate to clean up Labor's mess and to make a difference from day one, which is exactly what this government has done, and the statistics bear witness to that. This government has introduced a strong arsenal of measures to combat the people smugglers. This includes the restoration of temporary protection visas.

Let there be no doubt in anyone's mind tonight, as they cast their vote on the disallowance motion, as to whether or not temporary protection visas work, because they do. In the short time since temporary protection visas have been reintroduced, 181 asylum seekers who were in the community on bridging visas have made their own decision to return home. That is because they were offered a temporary protection visa, and that was not what they wanted when they came to this country. The number of people arriving illegally by boat in but the first eight weeks of Operation Sovereign Borders has declined by almost 80 per cent compared to the number in the eight weeks prior to the introduction of Operation Sovereign Borders. If your goal as a government is to implement a policy that is to eventually stop the boats and stop people risking their lives to make the perilous journey by sea to Australia, the statistics stand up for the fact that Operation Sovereign Borders is doing just that.

November, as senators would be aware, is traditionally a high-volume month for boat arrivals to Australia, particularly as the monsoon season approaches. Last November there were 2,443 illegal arrivals to Australia on 41 boats. This November, subsequent to the commencement of Operation Sovereign Borders, we have seen a total of 207 people arrive on five boats. You might ask yourself why. The answer to that question is very easy. This government has the resolve that the former Rudd government and the former Gillard government and then the former Rudd government failed to have. We said to the Australian people we would implement policies that would stop the boats. This included temporary protection visas. That is exactly what we have done, and the end result is an 80 per cent reduction in boat arrivals in the eight weeks in which Operation Sovereign Borders has been in place. The positive progress of Operation Sovereign Borders is, as the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection has said on several occasions, not due to any single measure or any single relationship or any single partner. All of the measures work together to give us a successful suite of policies, just as they did before under the former Howard government's Pacific solution.

When we assumed office on 7 September we were well and truly aware of the former government's legacy caseload in relation to their failed border protection policies. The former government—and those on the other side do not like to admit to it—have left a Labor legacy caseload of in excess of 32,000 people who had arrived in this country and they had not commenced processing them, and more than 20,000 of those people are living in the community and are now on bridging visas. To say that it will be a significant task to clean up Labor's mess in this regard is possibly the understatement of the year. But again this government has the resolve to clean up the mess that the Labor Party left us. Central to this approach, as Australians know, is the reintroduction of temporary protection visas. For those who arrived before 19 July and are subject to offshore processing, under a coalition government they will not get permanent residence in Australia as they would have if the Labor Party had been left in office. They will not be given family reunion under the Abbott coalition government. They will not be allowed to leave Australia and then return and they will be required to satisfy mutual obligation requirements in return for welfare payments. They will face a much tougher assessment process, not the tick-and-flick approach that was adopted by the former government, and they will do all of this without the largess of taxpayer funded lawyers to run their multiple appeals.

Under this government those arriving in Australia illegally by boat will also not take the place of offshore applicants under our refugee and humanitarian program. The days when a person who came here illegally by boat and displaced a person who had been sitting in a camp, as I have said before, not for five years, not for 10 years, not for 15 years but in some cases for 20 and in excess of 20 years—that is not going to occur under this government. We have been very clear that we are going to break the nexus between what the current and former government did and we will expose the fraud in relation to their alleged increase of the humanitarian program to 20,000 places. It is a fact, though those on the other side do not appear to like to admit this, that 7,000 of those alleged 20,000 places were going to be granted to people who came here illegally by boat. In other words, all the former government did was increase the number of places so that they could in part hide the number of people that were coming to Australia. That will not occur under this government. Under this government the 13,750 humanitarian visas will go to people who are in a camp. A humanitarian visa will not go to a person who has arrived here illegally by boat and is given a temporary protection visa. There are no two ways about it. The former government's 20,000 places in Australia's humanitarian settlement program were nothing more and nothing less than a con to the Australian people, quite frankly a con potentially to the most vulnerable in society who believed that if they did the right thing and went to a camp they may have got a place here. That was never going to happen under the former government.

That is why this government has taken what are very tough decisions in relation to border protection policy and that is why we have reintroduced temporary protection visas. Anyone who came here before 19 July and who engages Australia's protection obligations will not receive permanent residency under the coalition government. They will receive a temporary protection visa and they will not displace someone who has been sitting patiently in a camp for many years.

As I have stated, the choice for those opposite is very clear. They can side with the Greens and send a very clear message to the people smugglers that they support the people smugglers' business model and they do not want to take the strong steps that are required to eventually stop the boats. Alternatively, they can support the government in doing what is right by our borders and taking the steps that this country needs to clean up Labor's mess and make the difference that we have from day one. I remind those opposite when they are casting their vote later on this evening of the words of former senator Bob Carr who in a speech to Labor's right faction only six weeks ago offered but one piece of advice. This is what he said:

… there should be not a bit of daylight between Tony Abbott and Labor on irregular migration. [If you] embrace the Greens-Left-Fairfax-ABC position, you are going to go backwards at the next election.

That is a former Labor senator, a former minister for foreign affairs, telling those in his party that they should not side with the Greens, that they should not take the approach they took while they were in government, which led to an absolutely disastrous legacy, and that they should close the gap between the policies of the former Labor government and the policies of the current Abbott government.

Again I remind the senators: Operation Sovereign Borders, which includes the reintroduction of temporary protection visas, is having an effect. You cannot deny that, based on the statistics. For the first time in five years the Australian government has the upper hand when it comes to strong border protection policies. When those opposite were in government, they said time and time again—albeit I think they were misleading the Australian taxpayers every time they said it—that the purpose of their policies was to stop the boats. We all know what actually occurred: they had 11 different policies, and not one of those policies stopped the boats. However, if they are true to their word and they do want to support policies that stop the boats, then they should vote with the government tonight and ensure that temporary protection visas are available as part of the suite of measures that this government has implemented, which, based on the statistics, are doing exactly what we said they would do—that is, stopping the boats. As I have stated: since the introduction of temporary protection visas, 181 asylum seekers who have been on bridging visas in the community have been returned home. That is because they were not offered permanent residency; they were only offered temporary protection. That proves that temporary protection visas work. The Australian Greens may not like that fact, but the fact of the matter is the visas do work.

If you want to be part of a government that has strong border protection policies, if you want to be part of a government that does not encourage people to get on boats and risk their lives, if you want to be part of a government that does not want to see pregnant women and children in detention, if you want to be part of a government that effectively spends taxpayers' money when it comes to protecting the borders, then there is only one decision for you tonight—that is, to vote with the government. (Time expired)