Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator Cash. I refer to the reported statement by former Prime Minister Rudd that:

… the number of folks coming by boat was overwhelming the whole refugee intake.

And that this posed a:

… practical, moral and political dilemma.

Can the minister update the Senate on why previous policies entrenched an inherent unfairness in Australia's migration program and how the coalition is addressing this inequality?

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

I have to say that I think that was one of the more honest things that Mr Rudd actually said when he was assessing the policies that the former Labor government implemented.

Can I just advise the Senate, in addressing Senator Smith's question, that under the coalition government it has now been 77 days since there was a successful people-smuggling venture to Australia—77 days. This government took a commitment to the people of Australia to the election, that we would break the people smugglers' business model. Unlike those opposite, we are fulfilling our commitment to the Australian people.

In the discussion on immigration policy, there is a myth that those on the Left have a monopoly when it comes to the politics of compassion. It is nothing more and nothing less than a myth. The policies that those on the other side implement, with their alliance partners the Greens, prove this myth to be untrue. It is not compassionate to implement a policy that results in the confirmed deaths of over 1,000 people at sea. It is not compassionate to implement a policy that sees in excess of 6,000 children, with their parents, risk their lives trying to get to Australia by boat. It is not compassionate to implement a policy that denies a place in our humanitarian program to the in excess of 14,000 people who are languishing in United Nations camps overseas for decades and decades. That is what those opposite did. We, on the other hand, are restoring integrity to Australia's borders.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I refer the minister to another recent statement by former Prime Minister Rudd that the lesson being sent to people smugglers was: 'You come by boat, we'll get you there quickly; but if you stay in a camp somewhere around the world in some hellhole you are never going to get anywhere.' Can the minister advise the Senate of the message that is now being sent to people smugglers by Operation Sovereign Borders?

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

Yet again we have an honest assessment by Mr Rudd of the policies that those on the other side, in conjunction with Senator 'Sea Patrol'—I mean, Hanson-Young—implemented—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! That is not orderly. You must refer to senators by their correct title.

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

Senator Hanson-Young, who is just fond of Sea Patrol, implemented those policies with those opposite when they were in government. Under our policies, we will restore integrity to Australia's borders. We will ensure that those people who are languishing in camps for not five, not 10, not 15 but in excess of 20 years are given priority under this government's policies. We will not make the fatal mistakes that those opposite made, which Mr Rudd, now that he has finally left politics, is prepared to admit. Let us just remind ourselves of what he said: 'You come by boat under Labor, we'll get you there quickly; but if you stay in a camp— (Time expired)

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate of any impediments to a consistent message being sent to people smugglers?

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

I can hear the parrots on the other side of the chamber. They are the greatest impediment to the implementation of our policies. In the lead-up to the South Australian, Tasmanian and Western Australian elections, I think it is very important for voters to remember when casting their vote that a vote for Labor is ultimately a vote for the Greens. The divorce never happened; it was merely a trial separation. That is reflected in the stance that both Labor and the Greens have taken in every possible policy position on border protection. A vote for Labor is a vote for the Greens. Every time we have brought a policy into this place to restore the integrity to Australia's borders, Labor and the Greens have sided together to defeat that in the parliament. It is only a coalition government that will restore integrity to Australia's borders. When you vote for the coalition, you know what you are going to get. (Time expired)