Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

It might seem obscure to those opposite—the idea of a government implementing the policies that they took to an election. But that is precisely what we are doing. When Mr Pezzullo, the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, was asked about whether the department advised against the changes to TPVs as announced today, he announced as crisply as he could, in one word, 'No.' Those opposite are familiar with the word 'no'. It's their favourite word. I don't know why they missed it. Mr Pezzullo also said that Operation Sovereign Borders relies upon three crucial pillars that he went through: an offshore disruption pillar, where you operate against the people smugglers and you seek to disrupt ventures before they take to sea; an on-water component that involves interception after detection of arriving vessels and their treatment; and a regional processing element that ultimately sees third-country resettlement. Those are the three pillars. He went on to say that is precisely what the government is implementing.

But I am asked by the member opposite about the potential for boats attempting to getting here. I seem to remember millions of Australians getting a text message on election day, not when we were the government, when they were the government. It is true that perhaps the minister was not the one who authorised it. Perhaps the other Minister for Home Affairs was the one who authorised it, one of the most disgraceful manipulations that we have seen in Australian politics on your watch.

Opposition members interjecting—

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