Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, my question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his 2007 promise to be tough on border protection, to maintain offshore processing and, in his own words, ‘to turn around the boats to keep our borders secure.’ Since he made that commitment, no boats have been turned around, there have been record numbers of illegal boat arrivals, the Christmas Island detention centre is full, people arriving illegally are regularly transferred to the mainland, the Curtin detention centre is set to re-open and there have been at least two breakouts from the Villawood detention centre. I ask: given the Prime Minister’s failure on border protection, will he now adopt the coalition’s border protection policies, which worked when we were last in government and will work again when we are next in government?

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