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

I rise on this matter of public importance, particularly following the very sombre presentations that we have just been witness to. The issues are not, of course, unrelated. The Prime Minister today in question time talked about what she believes is just a slogan on behalf of the coalition, which is ‘Stop the boats’. These are three words that those on the other side in this chamber do not like to hear. They do not like to hear the words ‘stop the boats’, because when we talk about stopping the boats it reminds the government of their pathetic failure in the realm of border protection, in the realm of immigration policy and in the realm of their own resolve to address these issues rather than just be passive receptors of what has come our way and what they have drawn to our shores by their own policies. It reminds them also of the success of the coalition government. We implemented measures that did indeed stop the boats—not a slogan but a result.

So, when the government stand in this place and accuse the coalition of sloganeering on the issue of stopping the boats, they need to remind themselves that the boats did indeed stop under our government, and, secondly, that under their government the boats have started to come again. This is why we find that the government never, ever like to hear the three words ‘stop the boats’—because they represent policy success for the coalition and policy failure for the government.

Since the border protection regime was softened by this government when it came to government in 2007 and dismantled the strong regime that was put forward by the coalition and operated throughout the years we were in government, this is what has been removed. Permanent residency for those who seek to come to Australia illegally by boat is back on the table as a major incentive and a major outcome being sought by those who come and, more importantly, by the people smugglers who sell this product, literally, and, we estimate, made at least $25 million from that business last financial year.

Universal offshore processing is no more in this country, and certainly third-country processing is in no way near ever being achieved by the government. Boats are no longer returned where the circumstances permit. Special deals are done with asylum seekers. We had the Oceanic Viking at around this time last year. This government did a special deal which we are still seeing the results of today, with 17 of those who were on the Oceanic Viking now in a centre in Romania. It was confirmed in Senate estimates today that a number of those have been rejected by Canada and the United States. Yet this government has a deal that will see them brought to this country, no doubt, by the end of this year if the resettlement outcome is not found. The reason they will be here is that the government will not commit to reassessing their refugee status, even though it put in place an asylum freeze which said that conditions in Sri Lanka had changed. More than a year later it is not prepared to reassess their claim. It is going to ensure that these people are resettled in Australia for no more reason than that they had a special deal with Kevin Rudd.

We have seen the absurd proposals like the asylum freeze used as an election fix in an attempt to provide a substitute for genuine and proven policy. The result of all this is that 174 boats have arrived, with 8,295 people on those boats. In this calendar year alone there have been 106 boats, with 5,260 people—that is more than 500 a month. Since the election we have had 20 boats, no less—946 people. We have seen now more than 5,000 people in an overworked, overstressed and falling apart detention network. We have seen riots, we have seen demonstrations and we have had instances of self-harm. We have seen only 75 people—we believe from the Senate estimates process—repatriated to their home country having failed the refugee status assessment.

More than 700 children are being detained, and I will come back to that matter in a moment. More than 5,000 people are in detention today. This is the record that the government must be held to account for. If they believe that their policies are more humanitarian, more compassionate, then they must justify why they think so, with 174 boats and almost 8,300 people getting on those boats and risking their lives. We believe around 175 have tried and failed and perished at sea. They must justify the more than 700 children being detained and the average stay in detention today: 71 per cent of those in detention are staying more than three months, compared with around 30 per cent just six months ago. The government must explain to the Australian people how that is a better way, particularly when you compare it against what they inherited: only 21 children being detained, none of whom arrived by boat; 449 people in detention, only four of whom had arrived by boat. We had a situation where only nine boats in total arrived between 2002 and 2007, with fewer than 300 people on those boats. That is an average of fewer than 50 per year, and at the moment we have an average of more than 500 per month.

This is the comparison that the government need to justify to the people of Australia. Prior to the election the government awoke to a political crisis, but they did not awake to their policy crisis. ‘Commander’ Bradbury, the member for Lindsay, was dispatched to Darwin for a photo opportunity with the Prime Minister. The member for the landlocked—apart from the Nepean River; it does extend all the way along the Hawkesbury and eventually gets to the sea—Commander Bradbury went to Darwin for the photo op. That was policy action No. 1 as the government would describe it. The East Timor plan was cobbled together. A night phone call was made to East Timor and announced at the Lowy Institute the next day as an election fix. Labor, for a short while—while the election was underway—stopped implying that people who had views about strong border protection were racists, but we saw that same commentary start to emerge from those opposite as we got to the other side of the election. They were happy to go back to the implications and the impositions of motives of people on this side of the House, but during the election they were quite happy to make sure they were saying something quite different.

We also had significant denials from those on the other side of the House during the campaign on the expansion of the onshore detention network. On the other side of the election this has been the policy response from the government: another 3,000-plus beds announced for onshore expansion in this country, on the mainland. There is still no proposal for an East Timor processing centre, let alone an opening date. And, as I said, 20 boats have arrived, with 946 people on them. The detention population has increased to over 5,000. More beds, as the opposition leader said yesterday and as I said yesterday, will not stop more boats. The government understand that. They understand that, because they have tapped the mat when it comes to dealing with the issue of stopping the boats, as I said in my opening statement. The government have basically said: ‘What we will do is open more beds and let more people out, because more people are going to come.’ That is the response of the government.

Let us consider what they have done in Curtin, for example, in managing these issues. A master plan was developed in July for 1,800 people. It was first developed on 27 July or thereabouts by the department for 1,800 people. It was drawn up by the department. The Prime Minister denied the very existence of this master plan during the election—the same master plan that is now being implemented. I show you here the plan, which is noted as revision C. Department officials confirmed to me when I was at the Curtin detention centre last week that this was a bona fide master plan of the government that was developed. The departmental officials were also very helpful because they showed me the most recent revision of that plan. And guess what? Both plans accommodated 1,800 people. They both accommodated three stages: stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3. But, if we go to what the Prime Minister said during the election, she said, in an article in the Canberra Times on 19 August:

No work is planned at Curtin other than the work which is underway now and which has already been publicly disclosed, publicly released and talked about.

So what work was underway? Well, an immigration department official was very helpful, because she said to the West Australian on the 18th, the previous day:

There is currently no construction under way beyond the existing stage—

stage 1—

which can accommodate about 600 detainees.

So there was nothing going on beyond the work for those 600 places. I was confused very much then when I got to the Prime Minister’s statements yesterday, when she said:

The federal budget of 2010 funded a detention centre at Curtin with a capacity of 1,200 places. Less than 1,200 persons were initially moved in there. However, of course the relevant department took the prudent steps in designing the centre and putting the infrastructure in place …

I went to the budget, and on page 326 of the budget, about capital allocation, there was no mention of the Curtin detention centre at all. So I thought maybe it was in the July economic statement, where a further $98 million was produced. It was not there either. There was no mention, prior to the election, of the Curtin detention centre having a capacity of 1,200 people. There was nothing going on there, apparently, at the time of the election, other than for 600 detainees.

Yesterday the government announced a series of measures to expand our detention network, taking it to over 3,000. I noticed that Curtin was not in that announcement for the expansion. So you can imagine my surprise when I went to Curtin detention centre and visited stage 3 of the centre with the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Mr Bob Correll. I took this photo. It shows the services works having been installed and constructed for stage 3. So a further 600 beds have had already installed, in stage 3, services, electrical works, plumbing, drainage and sewerage. All of this has been put into stage 3, and indeed you can still see the grader and the dump truck—

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