Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Smith, as you know, when you outsource immigration policies, as the former Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government did in conjunction with the Australian Greens, the result is catastrophic. Let me just remind the Senate that under the former Labor-Greens government 50,000 people arrived in Australia illegally on 800 boats. In fact, many will recall that at one stage there was a press release almost on a daily basis announcing yet another boat arrival. Tragically, in excess of 1,200 people lost their lives at sea as a direct result of an open borders policy. In fact, I recall at the time that Senator Hanson-Young famously said 'accidents happen' in relation to people drowning at sea. But Senator Hanson-Young, who was the spokesman at the time for the Greens, failed to ever admit it was a result of policies that the Greens supported when Labor was last in government.