Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister update the House on the progress of Operation Sovereign Borders? What challenges are there to implementing all the government's border protection plans?

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

I thank my neighbour from the shire, the member for Hughes, for his question. I know he is interested in an update because just before Australia Day he relayed to me the story of when he was at the railway station at Holsworthy and a commuter returned at the end of the day and was quite pleased to learn that at that stage there had been 36 days when there had been no successful people-smuggling venture to Australia. I can update the member today: you can tell your constituent from Holsworthy it has now been 56 days since there has been a successful people-smuggling venture to Australia. I can understand why your constituent on that day was so pleased, because he had been waiting for a very, very long time to be able to get that sort of news about successful border protection policies. There is still a long way to go in this operation, but the truth is these policies are getting the results they were designed to get.

The great shame is: these were the policies we implored those opposite to restore, year after year after year. The captains of border chaos that still litter the front bench of the opposition, who were responsible for that chaos, had the opportunity to restore those policies, and we now know those policies are the policies that are getting results.

I want to acknowledge in this place here today those who are responsible for getting those results, and that is the men and women who serve as part of Operation Sovereign Borders, who are implementing these policies and getting the results. We believe they should be appreciated.

Members opposite believe they should have an inquiry into them. The member for Kingsford Smith and the member for Isaacs called for a public inquiry into the service of those men and women in Operation Sovereign Borders and the unsubstantiated and outrageous allegations against our Navy. It is amazing that they are happy to call for an inquiry into unsubstantiated sledges against our Navy, but, when it comes to a royal commission into union rorts and slush funds, that is something they oppose.

When it comes to the issue of border protection, they could have implemented our policy, and they chose not to. Nothing has changed. The challenges are just as difficult today as they were six months ago. The people who can implement them are the same today as they were six months ago. The push factors are the same today as they were six months ago. I will tell you what has changed: there is a government that believes in strong border protection policies and has the will to implement those policies and has the strength to continue with those policies in the face of the opposition of those who sit opposite.