Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Earlier this year in this place, the Prime Minister, on another matter, said the test of an issue was how one answers three questions: firstly, is there a problem; secondly, are you going to do something about that problem; and, thirdly, are you committed and is your heart in the solution? On the issue of whether there is a problem when it comes to the failure of the Rudd government’s border protection regime, more than 4,100 people arriving illegally on 92 boats on this government’s watch cannot be wrong. This is the damning judgment of the Rudd government’s failure to live up to their pre-election commitments.

Under the Rudd government, we have gone from three illegal boat arrivals per year—three per year in the last six years of the coalition government after we took action—to more than two per week under this government this year. More people arrived illegally by boat last month, in February, than in the last six years of the coalition government—something the PM failed to mention in question time today when comparing records. In 2010, we have had 24 boats and almost 1,200 people arrive so far, and it is only March. Boats are arriving at a rate of 10 per month and people at a rate of almost 500 per month. This is the highest on record, higher than the peak of the coalition years. What this shows is that, under the Rudd government, we have gone from a period under the coalition government of less than one boat per month to 10 boats per month, which is higher than the average for each of 1999, 2000 and 2001. It tells a story of a failure of a government to honour the pledges it made before the election.

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