Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I think it is appropriate to acknowledge in this matter the coalition government's success in breaking the people-smuggling trade that Labor and the Greens fostered for more than five years. In 2007 when the Howard government left office there were just four people in detention who had arrived illegally by boat and none were children. The following year, Labor unwound the coalition's proven measures, abolishing the Pacific Solution, including temporary protection visas. The consequences were disastrous. As we well know, more than 50,000 people arrived illegally by boat, including more than 8,000 children, costing the taxpayer more than $11 billion in budget blow-outs. More than 1,100 people tragically perished at sea and thousands of people were denied a resettlement opportunity because these places had already been taken by those who had arrived illegally. The coalition's policies have proven to be successful. Those on the other side of the chamber should finally recognise that. (Time expired)