Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the serious matter raised by the member for Indi. We need to remember that the reason people are on Manus Island and Nauru is because Labor lost control of the borders. Under Labor there were 50,000 illegal boat arrivals, who came over in 800 leaky boats. Tragically, at least 1,200 people drowned at sea and 8,000 children were drawn into detention by Labor's policy failures. Under Labor Australia's border security arrangements were in chaos. There was an $11 billion budget blowout and 17 additional detention centres were opened. At the height of Labor's policy failure 10,201 people were held in detention, including 1,992 children.

Any weakening of border protection policy runs the risk of getting the people smugglers back in business and overrunning our borders. The only way to stop people from drowning is to deny people smugglers the product that they sell. This was first shown in 2001, when the Howard coalition government successfully halted the first wave of boat arrivals. Under the current coalition government's Operation Sovereign Borders, anyone who comes illegally by boat won't be settled in Australia. This life-saving policy has been a resounding success. Under this government, there has not been a successful arrival in over 1,000 days and not a single death at sea.

Australians have always been a generous people. We consistently rank among the top three countries in the world for our resettlement programs. While Australians have a substantial humanitarian program, it must always be governed on our terms. After putting an end to Labor's tragic policy failure and securing our borders we are now looking to move existing asylum seekers out of detention centres. We have already closed 17 detention centres and removed all children from detention. Labor promised to move children out of detention but the coalition is actually delivering on that. We are working with Papua New Guinea to close the Manus Regional Processing Centre by the end of the month. Refugees will have the option to settle permanently in PNG, return home, move to a third country they have the right to reside in, or volunteer to transfer to Nauru if they are interested in US resettlement. Crucially, no-one will come to Australia.

We have managed to move people out of detention centres while continuing to deter people smugglers. The government now operates the largest and most sophisticated maritime surveillance and response fleet ever deployed in our nation's history. If the people smugglers try anything, the Australian Border Force will be waiting to intercept and return any boats that attempt to enter our shores. We all want to show compassion to genuine refugees but we need to think with our heads and not our hearts. After 1,200 deaths at sea, we cannot afford to give an inch to the people smugglers and their disgraceful business practices. It is clear from the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor experiment, that sending mixed messages just results in more illegal arrivals. What Australia needs is strong borders. Only the coalition has a proven record of achieving this.

I worry about what a Labor government would do to the strong border arrangements this side has worked so hard to deliver. The opposition showed it has not learnt from its mistakes earlier this year when they voted against our crackdown on fake refugees receiving welfare. Many in the ALP don't care about border security, and people smugglers are aching for a change of government so they can test the waters. The Labor Party must accept its six years in government were an abject failure for border protection and it must unequivocally support our policies that have stopped the boats.

The government is resettling asylum seekers humanely and in line with our international obligations. Most importantly, we are doing it in a way that will not encourage anyone to again make the dangerous voyage to Australia. Unlike the former Labor government we will never tolerate the vile people smugglers who manipulate vulnerable men, women and children to risk their lives at sea. The last thing we can afford is to turn Australia into a magnet for the people-smuggler trade as happened under Labor. I congratulate Minister Peter Dutton and our government on their success and will continue to work with them to keep our borders strong and secure. (Time expired)

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