Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Another reason this bill is important is to rein in the costs. But we have seen the blow-out in costs: $4.7 billion—$4,700 million! We will never know what services, what infrastructure, the Australian community has missed out on because of that $4.7 billion.

Let's look at those numbers again to see why this bill is important. In the seven years of the Pacific solution, 2002 to 2008, 278 asylum seekers arrived. In the 4½ years since these policies were introduced, over 22,000 asylum seekers have arrived. Yet, despite all this evidence, for four long years, all we have seen from this government is denial. We have seen the fraud of the East Timor solution. We have seen the farce of the Malaysia solution, struck down by the High Court.

We should never forget that the coalition has called on the government to reopen Nauru no fewer than 106 times. Instead of taking the necessary action, this government has given us every excuse under the sun as to why they cannot open Nauru. Firstly, we had the excuse that Nauru was not a signatory to the UN convention. This time last year the Prime Minister claimed in this very parliament that Nauru would not work and should not be reopened because it would be a waste of taxpayers' money. No wonder members of this government are hiding in their offices, not participating in this debate! The history records that the Howard government was right and its policies should never have been reversed.

I say enough is enough. What about our Westminster system of ministerial responsibility? Our very system of government is built on that principle, whereby a minister takes the blame if something goes wrong. It is a fundamental tenet of our Westminster system that cabinet ministers bear the ultimate responsibility for their actions. But it is hard to completely blame the hapless minister for immigration, for we know, from reports in the Australiannewspaper yesterday, that on 13 October last year our immigration minister saw the light and urged our Prime Minister to reopen Nauru to stop the boats. We know that argument was rejected, and it was reported yesterday that it was rejected simply for political reasons.

We would have hoped that the immigration minister would have had the backbone to resign from cabinet. Instead, he continued to be part of the charade and part of the denial, and the boats kept coming. Since that time, 10 months ago, 123 boats have arrived, carrying 9,777 asylum seekers, and the death toll has risen. Another 338 people have drowned. Let's call a spade a spade. If the Prime Minister had not been so stubborn, if she had put the national interest first, ahead of her own political interest, the human tragedy and the cost of Labor's failed border protection policies could have all been avoided.

At the end of last week the expert report was received. After reading that report, a true leader would have put their ego, their vanity and their pride to one side, walked into this parliament, stood at the dispatch box, looked the public in the eye and said those three magic words: 'I am sorry.' The Prime Minister should have said, 'I am sorry for vilifying former Prime Minister Howard and his asylum seeker policy for over a decade—

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