Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. I am still waiting for the relevant shadow minister to ask me a question on border protection and on this particular issue this year. As the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I said on 9 April, we had been looking at whether there were changed circumstances in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. As a result and based on the advice we had received, the government made the very important decision to suspend the processing of people seeking asylum from those two countries.

As was said at the time, we did not suggest that the boats would necessarily stop. We understand—as does the opposition if they are fair dinkum—that this issue is driven primarily by international factors. That is what was said by the previous government and that is the case now. As a result of conflicts around the world and within our region, because of violence in Afghanistan, because of the conflicts within Sri Lanka, we have seen an increased number of vessels seeking to come to our shores. That is why this government has dedicated more resources than any other government when it comes to protecting our borders. As a result of that—here comes big mouth.

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