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

We need to look no further than the words of Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, a lieutenant general in our armed services. He has made it very clear the importance of the way information is released on this matter. He has made it very clear as to why these protocols are in place. He has said: they give advantage to the people smugglers if we were to release this information; they will provide people smugglers with material that may be used to manipulate or confuse their customers; it would undermine our regional relationships necessary to deal with this problem; and, most of all, it would endanger our people.

That is why the government is taking the steps that we are taking. But, most of all, we need to remember when it comes to secrecy the policies of the previous Labor government. Remember when they were releasing people on bridging visas out into the suburbs of our cities, our state police commissioners specifically asked and wanted to know where those people were being released and the previous Labor government refused to provide that information. They refused to provide information to our state police commissioners about where people were being released into our society, because they wanted to look after their safety.

See this speech in context