Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition is saying that a coastguard would be doing joint patrolling, that good fences make good neighbours and that they would have stopped them coming in the first place, and the shadow minister for immigration is saying that they would intercept the boats to bring them to Australia for processing. There is only one side of politics that has clear and decisive plans when it comes to protecting our borders, and it is this side of politics.

The only other point I would make is in relation to the claims that are made in dealing with unauthorised border arrivals. This government is not the only government that has had to deal with unauthorised border arrivals. Labor had to deal with unauthorised border arrivals, and the numbers were quite large. Many of them entered our waters from China, and people, including women and children, were detained. I do not recall any alternative detention model being set up for them. I do not recall any special arrangements for their release into the community. I do recall special arrangements being put in place with China to ensure that they were able to be processed with minimal interference, particularly from the legal profession. An enactment was put in place to ensure that, on the basis that they had prior asylum claims—that is, the Sino-Vietnamese—they would be forbidden from making asylum claims in Australia.

That was the approach that Labor took in office and implemented. When the numbers became so large that they could no longer detain them at Port Hedland, they opened the centre at the air base at Curtin. Labor had there provisions that I would describe as ‘improvised’. They were essentially prefab buildings brought onto the site. Certainly people were kept behind the razor wire and were sufficiently isolated that Labor did not expect that people would be able to be in touch with them. In case they argue that, as they administered these matters in office, faced with those sorts of difficulties, they did it considerably better, let me say: there were attempted breakouts and there were people who were injured. They sometimes argue that when you have an outsourced model involving detention centres and detention centre staff, in government hands it would be different. This is no criticism of the Protective Service organisation, but the fact is that they had to deal with exactly the same issues that private sector organisations have had to grapple with over time. If you look back at the data, you will find the level of complaint and the numbers of irregularities—that is, breakouts and like factors—were comparable in every respect.

The important point I would make is that border protection is never an easy policy, but it is easy to sling off at those who are engaged in having to administer it. The one thing I can assure the Australian people is that, if you leave issues like this alone, the numbers move very quickly and have the propensity to do so. The measure that we have announced was announced with a view to legislating to ensure that the measures operated retrospectively. That was for good reason: to make it very clear to people that, if they were contemplating coming to Australia, they would not get this political advantage out of the arrangements that they were putting in place. It was to make it very clear that, if people were seeking to enter Australia without lawful authority, they would be processed offshore in accordance with our international obligations, in accordance with the assurance that the minister for immigration has been giving about ensuring that children will be able to live in the community, that it will be done humanely and appropriately, and that people who have proper protection claims will be found a resettlement opportunity. Those were the arrangements that we put in place for those that were processed under the existing offshore processing— (Time expired)

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