Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government’s immigration network is indeed in crisis. The system is out of control. As a consequence of Labor’s failure, our detention network is stretched beyond its capacity. When the coalition left government only four people who had arrived illegally by boat where in detention. Today that figure is more than 6,300, including more than 1,000 children.

I call on the Gillard Labor government to assure Darwin residents and Northern Territorians that they will be safe, given recent events that have occurred on Christmas Island. If you want a more visible example of the depths of the crisis Labor have created with their failed border protection policies you need look no further than the Asti Motel in suburban Darwin. On 16 March this year, 100 detainees walked out of the hotel heading downtown to Darwin. This was not people rioting and escaping from a remote or secure facility. We have experienced riots and protests and breakouts from the Berrimah secure facility as recently as last week.

Territorians are enduring riots beside residential houses. The Asti Motel is surrounded by houses and units right in the suburbs of Darwin. My office is inundated with calls from residents who no longer feel safe and secure in their own homes. This is outrageous. I cannot understand why my constituents should have to feel frightened and insecure in their own homes, experiencing riots on their front lawns as a direct result of the Gillard Labor government’s failed border protection policy. Territorians are not watching riots on TV, they are watching riots outside their bedroom windows.

The Northern Territory Police and the Royal Darwin Hospital, like many of the other services that are provided in the Northern Territory, are already stretched to capacity. How can this Labor government say that there is going to be no pressure on Territory services as a result of their failed border protection policy? In September 2010, when 90 detainees escaped from the Berrimah detention facility and staged an all-day protest on the road, there had to be a significant impact on NT Police resources. This is just one example. There have been a number of breakouts. As I said, there were people walking down the mall. It is just disgusting. There were also riots which resulted in hospitalisations at Royal Darwin Hospital. Territorians all know that Royal Darwin Hospital is stretched to capacity—but we are told this failed border protection policy will not impact on Northern Territory services at all.

It gets worse. Asylum seekers are being housed in residential apartments in the suburbs. How can this be, when Darwin is experiencing its worst housing crisis? The government are trying to hide these people by renting the apartments under a veil of secrecy. This is typical of this government—they hide the facts from Australians. They have form. When the plans for another onshore detention facility were announced recently in Darwin, they said it would cost $9.2 million. But, as we know, it will cost $83 million, and that is just for starters. I am holding up the front page of the Northern Territory News, which outlines it all. The Labor government’s failed border protection policies are costing Australians hundreds of millions of dollars each year—money that could be spent on vital services and infrastructure. The $83 million that has been identified as the cost to build the new detention facility in Darwin could be spent on building other things, such as three new schools or four new cancer centres, or for nearly a thousand nurses in our hospitals. What about 900 police officers on our streets? Maybe it could build five new suburbs. This money could even establish the eight new GP superclinics that the government have failed to deliver.

See this speech in context