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

I want to start my contribution this morning by thanking all of the officers within Australian Border Force and within the Department of Immigration and Border Protection for their work over the course of the last 12 months. It is fair to say, as previous ministers could attest, that there is always an issue to deal with in this portfolio on a daily basis, and there always will be. These officers, in particular those on the frontline, serve our country well. We are proud of the work that they do, and we are certainly very grateful for it.

I want to acknowledge the tragic passing of Brett Forte in Queensland, the senior constable who was tragically killed not far from the honourable member for Blair's electorate. It underscores to all of us that our Border Force officers are out working with the police across the jurisdictions on a daily basis. They are working with the Australian Federal Police in the raids they do and the interdictions that they make at sea, on land and at ports right across the country. It is dangerous work, and we should be reminded, at a time when we consider the expense within our portfolios, of the significant support that we are providing to those staff, because the work that they do results in our country being a safer place.

The work of our counterterrorism unit officers at airports has been a significant investment by this government over the course of the last several years. Again, in this budget process, we are funding that on an ongoing basis. Why? It is because it is very important for them to, in particular, talk to young people who might be on their way to the Middle East and the number of interventions that have been undertaken are significant and continue to grow each year. They work in concert, of course, with our law enforcement and intelligence agencies and do that not only for outbound passengers but also for inbound passengers. The travelling public can be assured that the support that is there at the airports makes it safer for people to travel and makes our communities safer here, given the intelligence that is gathered at that point at the airport where there is contact made. So I want to pay tribute to all of those officers.

In particular, I want to pay tribute to those officers who are involved in Operation Sovereign Borders, led by Air Vice Marshal Steve Osborne. There is a considerable amount of expenditure again in this budget for us to keep our borders secure. It has not happened by chance that we have been able to stop boats and stop drownings at sea. But getting the 8,000 children out of detention has been a significant outcome, and it would not have been possible without the assistance of those officers. Those officers that I have spoken to on the vessels in ports talk about their desire to make sure that our success continues. That is because, again, those frontline officers, over a long period of time, were involved in pulling bodies out of the water, dealing with the tragedy of a boat that had capsized and dealing with the reality of people smugglers taking money off innocent men, women and children who would hop onto these boats and, ultimately, in many cases, not make it to the destination of Australia. It is difficult work that our officers are doing in PNG at the Manus Regional Processing Centre in concert with the PNG authorities there. And, certainly, it is the case that it is difficult work for our offices and our contractors in Nauru as well. I pay particular tribute to them because a lot of criticism is levelled against them. Much of it is unjust because the work that all of these people collectively undertake on a daily basis is in our national interests and it allows us to be one of the most generous nations in the world in terms of the numbers of people we settle here, in particular through the refugee and humanitarian program. If we do not have an orderly migration program it is clear from all of the evidence that the Australian public will not support decisions of government at a point in time that are in our national and international interests. The intake of the 12,000 Syrians was possible only because of the fact that we had stopped the boats and we had regularised arrivals in this country, that we had stopped those drownings at sea and that we had got those children out of detention.

So I pay particular tribute to all those frontline officers and all of the officers within the budget unit, who report to Steven Groves, and ultimately to the secretary—the many people who have spent countless hours and given up weekends in the preparation of this budget. I thank all of them. On a number of occasions I had great opportunities to speak to staff at our offices around the country. They are wonderful people and I pay tribute to their work today.

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