George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, Senator Paterson, I am afraid to say there are, and there is one that comes to mind most particularly, and that is the weakness of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bill Shorten—the weakness of the Leader of the Opposition which the people smugglers have detected. They know that if the Labor Party were ever to be in office again, they would be back in business. But let us not forget that under the last Labor government—notwithstanding all the strong rhetoric that they used—800 boats came to Australia, 50,000 people arrived illegally, an uncountable number but at least 1,200 deaths that we know about occurred at sea, and 8,000 children went through the detention system. Under this government, no deaths at sea, no children in detention, and the problem has been solved.