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

In commencing my answer to Senator Eggleston's question I will confirm that it was the former government which dumped 30,000 people into the community and did not process one of them. We are now cleaning up the legacy caseload. But, uniformed or not, what the men and women do in protecting our borders and facilitating trade and travel and in their immigration, customs and border protection duties on a daily basis is outstanding. Many of our officers place themselves in harm's way, risking their own personal safety to save the lives of others, often in difficult circumstances requiring not only the ability to act but managing resulting trauma for themselves, for their colleagues and for those rescued, some of whom would have lost their family members in the same incidents. This takes courage, commitment and selflessness, and above all it takes excellence. I, like all members of the Abbott government, wholeheartedly support and commend the men and women who so successfully implement government policy.