Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of all the federal policy issues that individuals raise with me, of most concern in Cowan is the arrival of the boats. I recently sent out a flyer to the electorate, highlighting the record of the Labor government in this regard, showing that the number of illegal boats, the number of people arriving and the cost of some $10 billion has resulted from the actions of this government led first by Kevin Rudd and now by the current Prime Minister. I recall the assurances that the changes made by the Labor government in 2008 would have no effect on the halted flow of boats, but how wrong those Labor assurances were.

What makes it worse now is that the system that exists has been so starkly revealed in TheWeekend Australian article as a system badly rorted by those who seek asylum and those who advocate for them. The article described how the current refugee determination process is manipulated in Australia. As a result, refugee acceptance rates are now 95 per cent and above. In Greg Sheridan's article, a former Refugee Review Tribunal member is quoted as saying:

I would sometimes receive a completely compelling story that was impossible to refuse.

The problem is I would receive exactly the identical story a hundred times over, with only the names changed. People on Christmas Island would tell me to my face they had copied their story from someone else

I understand that an account from a senior immigration department official stated that in the case of boat people, most are flying to Indonesia or Malaysia and there has been a growing trend to effectively prebook their passage. They are less interested in seeking protection than in gaining work and residence rights in Australia. These are people who would largely be ineligible for normal migration but, by claiming to be in fear of persecution, they are usually allowed to stay in Australia even though many will visit their homeland once they have an Australian passport. Thanks to this government, Australia's borders are an international joke paid for at the expense of the Australian taxpayers. The system is failing so badly and is such a burden on Australia that even those who are refused refugee status are not even sent back.

This Labor government's time in office will be defined as two terms when Australia was happy to take those who can afford to fly to another country and then pay people-smugglers to come to Australia over those who are legitimate refugees—refugees who are stuck behind barbed wire in one of the refugee camps around the world. It must be heartbreaking for those in Africa and places like the Burma-Thailand border who do not have two cents to rub together to hear about people paying their way to Australia and then simply lying to pass the refugee determination process. I will conclude with a quote in an article in the The Weekend Australian which sums up how easily this government is accepting those claiming refugee status:

… I can confidently say … that we are approving large numbers of people who are fabricating claims …

Indeed, the current refugee determination system works in favour of those who are most adept at spinning a yarn.