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

Those opposite would not know about reinvestment and the ability to implement significant positive changes, because they had in excess of an $11 billion budget blow-out because of the 50,000 people who arrived here illegally by boat.

Those of us on this side, however, have implemented policies which have effectively stopped the boats and, as a result of that, have saved the Australian taxpayer money, which has meant that we have been able to reinvest into what is one of the most important portfolios in this country.

The creation of the Australian Border Force in 2015 will bring together the collective energies of our Customs and immigration officials in a single compliance and investigation agency. This is because we face many challenges going forward. We understand that. Operation Sovereign Borders has clearly shown the way in terms of how to harness the collective energies of our border agencies to ensure that on this side we get the job done. (Time expired)