Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

The nature of that response really was Orwellian. How the government, in what is the greatest betrayal of Indigenous Australians since the Mabo decision was made 20 years ago, can somehow spin that as being an advancement in native title is, quite frankly, Orwellian. We will move on though to other issues within the portfolio.

I wanted to ask about the recent interceptions at Cocos Island of illegal boat arrivals, one on 15 May and then another yesterday on 30 May. As members would be aware, there is a limited Border Protection Command presence at Cocos Island, and I understand that these interceptions were made by a single AFP officer. The boats were respectively carrying 63 passengers in the first arrival and 40 passengers in the second arrival. I wanted to confirm when and how the AFP officers became aware of these particular illegal arrivals. Why was the AFP forced to undertake this task and not Border Protection Command, as is obviously appropriate? What risk assessment has been done for illegal arrivals coming to Cocos Island, both for the Australian officers involved and for the asylum seekers themselves?

I assume this will be to the Minister for Home Affairs. I am not sure how you will be organising it. I wanted to ask whether he believes it is acceptable that the protection of Australian borders relies on a single AFP officer in a rigid inflatable boat, a RIB. Because this has happened on more than one occasion, I wanted to ask him how it was possible for two illegal boat arrivals to essentially just bump into Australian territory before being detected. What provisions have been made on Cocos Island for these continued illegal arrivals, including simple contingencies such as food, accommodation and other needs? Where are the people being detained on Cocos Island and in what conditions are they being detained? Given that these two arrivals have come within the space of a fortnight and there have been reports of an upsurge in Tamil asylum seekers coming from Sri Lanka, what is the government doing in response to increase our border protection system at Cocos Island?

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