John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

the sine qua non of everything he said on this issue was that you have to get along well with Indonesia. It is an element. It is not the only element. I would remind the member for Watson that, in contrast to those very difficult months of 2001 when there was a veritable flood of illegal immigrants coming to this country, the reason that has stopped is essentially a combination of three or four things. It is first and foremost the policy that we resolved upon in 2001 of intercepting and returning boats to Indonesia. That could not have been achieved without the cooperation of the Indonesian authorities in receiving the vessels back. The second element was the introduction of the Pacific solution, which the Labor Party has pledged to abolish. Let it be remembered that the Labor Party will abolish the Pacific solution, yet that played an enormous part in bringing about the turnaround and the change. The decision in relation to processing people offshore has been fundamental to deterring people from coming to Australia, to cooperation with the Indonesian security and police authorities and—might I say—to the excellent work carried out by the Australian defence forces and the Australian Customs Service. All of these things together have stopped the flow of boat people. It is only the coalition parties that had the courage then and have had the consistency since to maintain that policy. If you want a return to those bad and difficult days, vote for the Labor Party.

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