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

The 27 people whom the shadow minister referred to are very lucky to be alive. They could have met a far worse fate, because the warning that is there to people who are thinking of getting on boats on the eve of the monsoon is this: there is no big safety net waiting on the other side. They are very fortunate that they did not encounter a fate far worse than the one that they found.

I note those opposite have sought to draw attention to this matter. They must have collective amnesia about the previous six years. If they want to understand what failure looks like, it looks like this: over 50,000 arrivals; over 1,100 people dead; over 15,000 people who were given permanent visas, denying those who are waiting offshore. That is what failure looks like. That is not a failure this government is going to repeat, because this government is putting in place the measures that have led to a more than 80 per cent reduction in illegal arrivals to Australia by boat since that operation was put in place. Those opposite do not like to hear that figure, particularly the Don Bradman of border failure, the Manager of Opposition Business, because he holds the record for the highest level of illegal arrivals by boat of any immigration minister in our history. He even surpassed the member for Gorton and the member for McMahon. The member for McMahon was a steady performer on failure—I will give him that—but he never was able to meet the heights that the Manager of Opposition Business was able to reach.

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