Senate debates

Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Matters of Public Importance

Asylum Seekers

4:41 pm

Photo of Cory BernardiCory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commence my contribution to this debate by saying how I wholeheartedly support Minister Scott Morrison in his dogged pursuit and determination to stop the people smugglers. He is ably assisted by our Senator Cash, the assistant minister in that capacity. I find it rather extraordinary that when even the Labor Party acknowledges that the government is focused on getting to the bottom of exactly what happened in the incident on Manus Island that led to the death of asylum seeker Reza Barati, the Greens somehow want to make political mileage out of it. The Labor Party have acknowledged that the government is taking appropriate steps to establish exactly what has happened. I do not particularly like the slant that Senator Carr put on it in his selective quotation of what the minister said in successive press conferences. Most of the comments that he made were about the advice that he received. He was constantly and continually updating members of the public and the press gallery as new advice came to hand. So it is a little disingenuous.

But I cannot stand here and let go some of the most grotesque slurs to have been cast upon a previous government, the comments by Senator Milne. To merely suggest that any government of this country would stand by or have their navy float by and watch people drown, as Senator Milne alleged in her grossly defamatory and I think hypocritical address, is an appalling assessment of the judgement of the Greens party. It is an unbelievable slur upon any government to suggest, as Senator Milne has done, that we would stand by and watch people drown for some sort of political expediency. That might be the standards by which you judge your own contribution, Senator Milne, but it is not the standard of contributions from those on this side of the chamber. The appalling hypocrisy of those in the Greens party is begat from their absolute jealousy and their outrage that policies are actually working, demonstrating that their ideas are simply as kooky as they have always been.

Senator Milne asked: 'What has this government done to stop the boats coming?' I could point to the track record that the boats are no longer arriving on Australian shores or in Australian waters, that we have not had an illegal boat arrival on Australian shores for countless days. I cannot believe that Senator Milne thinks that somehow that is a bad outcome.

There is further evidence which I read recently about how the price of a ticket for passage on a people-smuggling vessel has plummeted from $10,000 to $1,000 because the demand is drying up. But that would smell like success. They are unfamiliar with success in the Greens and they are jealous of it. They do not like our success because it exposes just how hollow their whole agenda is.

We have had no arrivals. We have had no drownings at sea. We have not seen 1,100 people drown, as happened under the policies of the previous government and their alliance with the Greens. We have not heard the dismissive, 'Accidents happen,' and 'Tragedies happen,' from the spokesperson for the Greens. We have not seen anything except for the fact that the policies implemented by this government are working.

Do you know how the Greens characterise it? They characterise it as some sort of reality TV show. It is like it is a soap opera to the Greens' spokesman. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young thought it was like an episode of Border Security or Sea Patrol. That is extraordinary. This is the national parliament. We are debating the sovereignty of Australia's borders and the right of people to come to this—

Comments

No comments