Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Forde very much for his question. Like all of my colleagues on this side, we are absolutely determined to make sure that we stare down people smugglers, because we do not want to see women and children drowning at sea. We do not want to see the people smugglers back in control of who comes to this country. When John Howard left office in 2007, there were four people, which included no children, in detention. When Mr Rudd, as Prime Minister, undid those policies that had stopped the people smugglers and put them out of business, thousands of people arrived. Indeed, 50,000 on 800 boats came on Labor's watch, and 1,200 people tragically drowned at sea. Labor has since apologised for that mess, but they have not learnt their lesson—even today they claim that, as a party, they have not got the act together. As I look opposite, there are still many people who are completely opposed to Mr Shorten and to the Labor Party policy, which they say somehow would continue the success of this government's policy on border protection.

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