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

It was only a small boat that illegally entered Australia's waters last night but it was a very significant one indeed because it marked the 25,000th person to have illegally entered Australia on 427 boats under this government—more than 25,000 people. It was just a boat with a small number of people on board. Interestingly, I note that the statement issued by the Minister for Home Affairs on 17 September differed somewhat from the one issued the day before. A statement on 16 September about a boat carrying 70 people said 'people arriving by boat without a visa after 13 August 2012 run the risk of transport to a regional processing country'. Interestingly, the statement of 17 September no longer carried that statement. They do not seem to be able to keep the policy straight on that side of the House from one day to the next, which is no great surprise.

More than 25,000 people have now arrived illegally in Australia on 427 boats under this government. With every boat arrival representing another policy failure—according not to me but to the now Prime Minister herself—this is a record of failure without peer. And it is a record of failure that continues unabated to this day. More than 5,000 people have arrived this financial year—a year where the Treasurer based his budget on just 5,400 arrivals. If there is anybody who has a hide, it is the Treasurer. He comes into this place and refuses to answer legitimate questions about where his budget is going—that is, south and in a hurry—and where the money is going to come from for promise after promise after promise as this government governs like there was no yesterday and there is no tomorrow, leaving others to pay the bill for the endless commitments.

The Treasurer today refused to answer the critical question: where is the money coming from for the further budget blow-out from this government on their border protection failures? The budget blow-out so far is over $5 billion in the last three years. Just how much greater will that blow-out be when they bring out the MYEFO and yet again it reveals a budget that is completely out of control due principally to the failures on our borders?

More than 10,000 people have arrived in 2012, the biggest year of illegal arrivals on record, and more than two-thirds of the arrivals have occurred since the last election. At the last election the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, said, 'We will stop the boats.' The effect of electing the government again after some 17 days was to start the boats again. Not only have the boats started again under this government, but it has gone into hyperdrive since the 2007 election. The people of Australia were given the opportunity to choose at the last election. The government was returned, and more than two-thirds of the 25,000 arrivals under this government have turned up since the last election. There are more than 10,000 people currently in the system, feeding into the endless appeals network set up by the government. That will drag on and cause cost for many years to come.

I notice once again that the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship is not at the table and my friend and colleague the member for Blaxland, the Minister for Home Affairs, has been brought in as the sub to represent him. Perhaps the minister for immigration is out looking for Captain Emad! I have got some news for him about where Captain Emad is later in my remarks. The minister complained in a press conference this morning that nothing he does makes me happy. I am touched by the minister's apparent desire to please—almost as touched as the member for Griffith, the former Prime Minister, is grateful for the minister for immigration's desire to please him! I acknowledge that the minister for immigration has had very little success when it comes to keeping me happy on these matters. When it comes to what this government has been offering on border protection he is actually right: I am not happy, Chris; I am not happy, Julia. I am not happy about 25,000 people illegally entering Australia on boats. I am not happy that more than 1,000 people are dead and more than 8,000 people have been denied visas seeking our protection who have applied offshore—

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