Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Perhaps I could best answer the question from the Leader of the Opposition by referring the House to a question that was put to the opposition just the other night. I quote:

The ABC asked the Opposition if it could rule out the possibility that … ASIS agents made payments to people smugglers during the Rudd-Gillard years. Its response: it's unlawful to divulge security or intelligence information.

I am going to say to members opposite that we adhere to Australian law and we stopped the boats. That is what we do: we adhere to Australian law and we stop the boats. Members opposite, who are so upset about what they claim the government may have done, or agents of the Australian government may have done, signally failed to stop the boats. That is the problem. Members opposite just do not like the fact that this government has stopped the boats and they did not. In fact, members opposite started the boats and this government has stopped them.

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