Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Can the minister advise the House what steps the government has taken to clear the processing backlog of 33,000 people who had arrived illegally by boat under the former government? What impact has this had on the immigration detention network and bridging visa program?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Canning for his question. He has, for many years, been a keen advocate in this place for strong border protection.

The previous government left behind a considerable mess on many fronts, but there is no greater mess than the one they have left behind on our borders. Over 50,000 people turned up illegally by boat under the previous government. The secret the previous government never wanted to share with the Australian people before the last election is that 33,000 of those people who arrived on their watch remain onshore, unprocessed and undetermined—leaving behind a massive backlog of chaos to be addressed by an incoming government. They simply wanted to dump the problem on a future government. My colleagues and I are all having to deal with the problems they have dumped on us as we go through the process of seeking to restore sense to government policy, particularly in this area.

When you leave 33,000 people in immigration detention, on bridging visas and in community detention, that has a profound impact on the way the system works. It draws down heavily on the resources of the immigration department and impacts on their ability to address the many other areas of important work we do. But the single greatest impact on the immigration program caused by the failures of the previous government was that the loss of confidence Australians had in our border protection led to them questioning the immigration program itself. That is a tragedy. What we are doing is restoring that confidence in our borders and restoring that confidence in our immigration program. The way we are doing that is by moving to restore temporary protection visas.

Mr Stephen Jones interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Throsby will desist!

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When, upon coming into government, we announced that we were restoring temporary protection visas, 181 people out of that 33,000 decided to go home—because they were not going to hang around just to get a temporary protection visa. They had been hanging around hoping to get a permanent visa. But Labor and the Greens combined to vote against what the Australian people voted for. They voted to honour the promises of the people smugglers, a promise made on their watch to the people who came here on their watch. Labor and the Greens wanted to close the deal and keep the visa shop open for those the previous government, through their own border failures, had invited into this place.

But there are many other measures that we are introducing. We are withdrawing taxpayer funded assistance for migration and legal advice on their claims.

Mr Stephen Jones interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Throsby is warned!

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are ending the tick-and-flick process that led to more than 90 per cent of claims just being rushed through the system because the visa shop owners over there could not be too quick or too hasty to hand out those visas to them.

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Isaacs is warned!

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are introducing mutual obligation arrangements for those who remain here and we are working hard to send people who are not refugees home. That is what we are doing; we are cleaning up the mess. This is a mess left behind by the previous government and we are cleaning it up.