Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

is that the CFMEU journal, called Common Cause, in October and November 2001, said this about a so-called coastguard: ‘The creation of an Australian coastguard would be manned by members of the Maritime Union.’ Anybody who has watched Sea Patrol on Channel 9, which is an outstanding reflection of the work that is done by the Royal Australian Navy, needs to imagine what it would be like having Australia’s borders protected by small boats of a coast guide, manned by people from the Maritime Union of Australia with a loudhailer, saying, ‘You are not welcome. This is a picket line of the MUA.’ That is not the way to protect Australia.

It is even more disturbing because the member for Hunter, in one of the very few speeches he has attempted to give on defence this year, on 23 April at the National Security and Defence Election Series, was asked a question: ‘Are you able to share any thoughts on a coastguard?’ The answer was: ‘There are some difficult administrative decisions to be made in implementing that policy and we won’t be in a position to detail those, even pre-election, because it is too difficult.’ The Australian Labor Party and the Leader of the Opposition, before they are in government, are putting up the white flag and saying that it is too difficult, too hard, to protect the borders of this country. As the Treasurer said earlier in question time, Australians need to ask themselves: ‘If it is working well, why would you break it? Why would you put someone into government to be the Prime Minister of this country who has no policies, is a patsy for the union movement and, worse still, has no policy on the protection of our borders?’

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