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

It was actually, as Senator Cormann has stated, many years ago since Australia undertook a period of six months since a arrived in Australia. It was, however, 2007 and it was under the former Labor government. But, guess what? It was when the former Howard government's policies were in place. Who remembers what happened in August 2008, under former minister for immigration Chris Evans, when he stated that the proudest moment of his political career was when he dismantled the Howard government's strong border protection policies. We now know what the result of that was—in excess of 50,000 people arrived under the former government; 1,000 people confirmed dead at sea; thousands of children behind bars; and a cost to the Australian taxpayer of in excess of $11.5 billion.