Nickolas Varvaris (Barton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is without doubt that immigration and border security are two of the most complicated and emotional topics in our national debate to date. In my electorate, constituents are concerned with how we are managing our border, how we are processing immigration cases and how strong our borders are in relation to human-trafficking, illegal arrivals and domestic or international security alerts.

When the coalition came into power we inherited a mess that saw countless lives lost at sea, endless people-smugglers selling false hope to the most vulnerable and other deplorable tactics with no regard for human life. To have done nothing would have been an assault on our constitutional values and detrimental to our policies. The inception of Operation Sovereign Borders has meant that there have been no unauthorised maritime arrivals in over 300 days. This is something the coalition is proud of and something about which my constituents have contacted my office to relay their support, as many of them were very distraught at images of men, women and children dying at sea.

The only way to ensure no further lives are lost is to ensure our borders our secure. Our Constitution states that we have regulated borders—not open and not restricted, but regulated. Unfortunately, people-smuggling is a lucrative business that enables its operators to profit enormously at the expense of its victims. It is our duty to ensure lives are saved. In order to do this, Australia has to strengthen its operational capability to protect the asset that defines our nation as a sovereign state, and that is, our borders.

Our existing framework has been vital to protect our citizens and our gateway for trade and business, but recent events, domestically and internationally, have demonstrated that even though the existing framework is viable, it cannot guarantee to continually safeguard the integrity of our border security well into the future. That is why amendments are so necessary, so we can get on with the job of protecting our citizens whilst preventing human-trafficking and people-smuggling ventures. Amendments such as those to the Migration Act 1958 allow for simplification and streamlining in the collection of personal identifiers to allow for digitisation of biometrics during the customs process to better verify the true identity of an individual.

The introduction of bills such as the Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 has been one of the most integral components of the coalition's plan to restore confidence, certainty and integrity to our immigration and border protection arrangements. Barton constituents believe it is crucial that we maintain the integrity of our asylum seeker policies so that we can process as efficiently as possible those most vulnerable and in need, while resettling those who face genuine persecution. We must be able to process claims quickly whilst allocating appropriate resources to individuals with more complex claims.

Barton constituents, like many Australians, support the government's key strategies for combating people-smuggling and managing asylum seekers both onshore and offshore. Barton residents believe in the concept of robust immigration and border protection policies. They want Australia to be a safe country in which to live, to raise their children and to go to work, whilst at the same time ensuring our borders are safeguarded against those who wish to flout the rules against businesses wishing to make a profit out of the misery of others and for the government to remain steadfast to our election promise to restore integrity and security to our nation's biggest assets, our sovereignty.

As I mentioned earlier, people-smugglers operate flexible models and should any of these be thwarted they will rapidly adapt. It is logical, therefore, to have our law enforcement policies adapt efficiently when the need arises. Integrity is paramount to our immigration and border protection policies because this is in the best interests of our citizens and lawful non-citizens.

Prior to the coalition coming into power, under Labor's disastrous policies and inaction we faced a real prospect of systematic weakening of our borders due to the increased challenges we faced with regional and global crises. We have a framework that was systematically dismantled under Labor which saw an increase in illegal maritime arrivals and people-smuggling ventures. The inaction under Labor had disastrous consequences for Australia and no-one—certainly none of my constituents—wants this to be repeated.

I take this opportunity to ask the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to explain how the standing up of the Australian Border Force on 1 July helps to protect our borders.

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