Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

In 2015, people-smuggling operations dispatched more than one million people via the Mediterranean Sea into Europe. It is horrific to note that in 2015 over 3,770 deaths occurred at sea. In 2016, to date, people smugglers have dispatched almost 337,000 people by sea into Europe. Even more tragically, over 4,230 people have died at sea. More than 2,200 people were rescued in a single day trying to reach Italy. Ten bodies have been recovered, but many more are believed to have drowned. Over one million people have flooded into Germany since Germany opened its borders in 2015.

The impact of this has been devastating and, as described by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, the mass influx of refugees and other migrants entering the continent spells a 'near existential' threat to the politics and fabric of life in Europe. Slovenian Prime Minister Cerar said, in a dire prediction, that the continent is at a tipping point and that a 'conflict' is inevitable if another wave of migrants makes their way through Europe. But the German interior ministry said today:

The elimination of the prospect of reaching the European coast could convince migrants to avoid embarking on the life-threatening and costly journey in the first place … and remove the basis for people-smuggling organisations.

The Austrian foreign minister said that the principles of the Australian model can be applied to Europe. So I say to Labor: back the coalition on border protection and save lives. (Time expired)

Mr Conroy interjecting—

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