Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, welcome to the Federation Chamber. It is good to see you here. I know how busy you are and what an effective job you are doing on your portfolio. I heard the shadow minister congratulate you earlier, when he first started speaking. The Immigration and Border Protection portfolio has a direct influence on my electorate, and the coalition's strong and consistent measures to secure our borders have definitely had successful flow-on effects in my electorate of Swan. Minister, I also take this opportunity to congratulate your assistant minister and all the staff in your department, particularly on a lot of the requests for information from constituents in my electorate and some of the ministerial interventions you have made on behalf of particularly some of the church groups in my electorate. Those ministerial interventions for the people of Swan have been greatly appreciated, so thank you again to you and your staff.

My electorate has a diverse range of cultures, religious beliefs and ethnicities that reside within its borders. However, one thing I hear from many across all these different areas between them is their overwhelming support for the coalition government's consistent and strong stance on our borders. When the coalition government was elected in 2013, 8,500 children had been inside the walls of detention; 50,000 illegal arrivals had flooded into Australia on over 800 boats; and, tragically, at least 1,200 people had lost their lives at sea. This tragedy and chaos are no more. Under the steadfast leadership of the coalition government, we took control of our borders and put an end to these illegal arrivals. It has now been 1,039 days since the last boat arrived on Australia's shore.

In my electorate, many praised the minister for his steadfast and unwavering approach to protecting our borders, when he visited my electorate to host an immigration forum mid last year. An overwhelming number of the questions to the minister at this forum from the constituents were in regard to the 457 visa system and strengthening the system to gain Australian citizenship. Many of those who have migrated to Australia over the years know the value of Australian citizenship, and they made it plain to you on that particular day that it was important to them that we maintain the strength and the value of that Australian citizenship.

I am pleased to tell those who attended the forum and who called the office to express their concerns on these issues that the coalition has been listening. We are this fixing the system, bringing back integrity to the Australian migration programs and ensuring that businesses support Australian workers and that those who share the values of this nation are the ones who are allowed to become citizens.

As John Howard said in 2001, we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come. Minister, strong borders are more than a national security advantage. The coalition, through pursuing strong borders, have been able to save $3 billion from the budget, which can be spent to deliver services for the community of Swan and for Australia. These are explained in the efficiencies you just mentioned in your previous answer. An example of this is the now-closed immigration residential housing in the suburb of Redcliffe in my electorate. This has now closed and, over four years, will save the Australian taxpayers $39.1 million. Just four years ago, the concept of closing this facility would have sounded like a bit of a joke. However, under the coalition we have managed to do just that and close another 16 detention centres across Australia.

With savings like these we are now able to offer another 2,500 places in the Humanitarian Program, raising numbers of refugees in our Humanitarian Program to 16,250 in the 2017-18, and increasing that to 18,750 in the 2018-19 year. The increase in the Humanitarian Program by the coalition government means that more of the most persecuted people can find safety in our country, and our commitment to stopping illegal arrivals means that we are not allowing those who threaten the safety of the most persecuted into our nation. This means the people of Swan can know that we are taking more of the people who need our help and we are not taking those who are economic tourists.

As all in this chamber know, the Labor Party is divided on this issue. The opposition will say one thing to people yet, in the backroom factional deals, will do another just to ensure factional mates get up. This is the nonsense that led former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to abandon the Pacific solution and created the tragedies that we saw unfold during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years.

In my electorate and across the country there is broad support for a strong immigration program into Australia, as long as it is through legal means. Minister, in light of recent events, particularly those in Manchester and overseas and the release of the report about the Lindt siege, can you explain why it is important to maintain strong and consistent border protection measures? How is the government dealing with the legacy of Labor's border protection policies?

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