Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his pre-election commitment to curb the criminal trade in people smuggling by ‘turning back the boats’. Given that 54 boats carrying more than 2,400 people, almost a fifth of our annual total humanitarian intake, have reached Australia since the Prime Minister weakened our border protection laws, will he confirm that he has now outsourced Australia’s refugee program to the people smugglers, and isn’t this just another broken Labor promise?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the question from the Leader of the Opposition on people smuggling because I have some further information for the House today. This is a statement just released by the Australian Federal Police. It says:

Two Indonesian men have been charged with the people-smuggling offences after the alleged attempt to facilitate the arrival of 52 people in Australia. The 32-year-old man and 18-year-old man will appear in Perth Magistrates Court today.

The Australian Federal Police charged the men with one count of facilitating the bringing of noncitizens into Australia, of five or more people, contrary to section 232A of the Migration Act 1958.

The men arrived on 9 October 2009 on a vessel that was intercepted by the Royal Australian Navy. The two Indonesian men bring the total number of people charged by the AFP with people-smuggling offences since September 2008 to 63.

Therefore, on the question of people smuggling I would simply point to the practical action being engaged in now by our border protection authorities and by our Australian Federal Police.

Can I also therefore on the broader question of action on people smuggling, given that that is the question which has been asked me, refer the Leader of the Opposition also to the 63 arrests so far, the 23 convictions and the 37 who are currently before the courts. He asks also in terms of the effectiveness of government action in relation to people-smuggling activities. I referred before to the disruptions currently being engineered by elements of the Sri Lankan security forces. I would draw to his attention the numbers which apply to other countries in the last 12 months: with the Indonesians, some 89 disruptions involving some 2,221 people, resulting in 28 arrests; with Malaysia, some 15 disruptions involving 552 people, resulting in six arrests; and prior to the news that I gave the House this morning about Sri Lanka, some 15 disruptions already, involving some 260 individuals. These are the practical actions in which we are engaged.

The Leader of the Opposition referred also to the number of vessels. I would refer to the historical record of the Howard government on these questions, and that is that, compared to 2009, which he referred to, I believe, in which some 45 vessels have so far come to Australia, in 2001 there were 44 vessels, in 2000 there were 51 vessels and in 1999 there were 86 vessels. In the year 2001 there were 5,516 individuals on those vessels.

I say to those opposite that it would be very useful, if we engage in this debate about border security, which is an important debate for Australia, that first of all we understand what is happening globally—hence the answer I gave to an earlier question about what is happening around the world coming out of Sri Lanka—and, secondly, the regional cooperation with our partners in the region, the number of disruptions, the number of convictions, the number of arrests and those currently before the courts. Thirdly, we should also put into context what is happening now against what has happened in the past and the challenges which will continue to arise in the future. Because the facts are these: international people movements are fundamentally shaped by insecurity in the world. We saw this with the events of 2001 and 2003, and we have seen it in the events of 2005 and 2008, directly shaped by civil strife in Sri Lanka and deteriorating security circumstances in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Those are the overall factual circumstances which underpin the Leader of the Opposition’s question.

I would suggest, therefore, if we are serious about embracing these challenges for the future: let us get behind all of our border protection authorities, who are doing a fantastic job day in, day out, bringing these people smugglers to justice—for example, the two that I referred to, who have just been the subject of release by the Australian Federal Police. This is the sort of hardline approach we need with people smugglers. It is exactly the sort of approach this government has been implementing since we came to office and we will continue to do so in the future.