Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. I remind the minister of the recent arrest of two men on terrorism charges in Sydney this week. Minister, when did the men arrive in Australia, and what pressures were our security agencies under at the time they arrived?

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

I call the honourable Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, and there will be silence for the answer.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and his significant interest in relation to national security matters.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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

The member for Moreton!

Mr Perrett interjecting—

The member for Moreton will remove himself under 94(a).

The member for Moreton then left the chamber.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The advice that I have received in relation to these two particular individuals is that one arrived in Australia in 2009 and one arrived in Australia in 2012. On the advice provided to me, one of those arrived on improperly documented air travel, on fraudulent documents, and that matter is being investigated as a matter of urgency. But it is important for all of us to understand the pressure that our security agencies were under at the time.

The fact is that, when John Howard left government in 2007, there were four people in detention, including no children. That is a very important fact for the Australian public to remember, and yet, over the course of the next seven years—

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order, Madam Speaker—

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

Is what?

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, my point of order—

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

Is?

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

is on the grounds of low-rent grubbiness. If he wants to walk down this path—

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

The member for Corio will resume his seat!

Mr Marles interjecting—

Resume his seat!

Mr Marles interjecting—

The member will remove himself under 94(a).

The member for Corio then left the chamber.

I am fully aware of the fact that it is Thursday and many people like an early plane. That could include the member for Corio. And if anyone wants to join him I can make sure that they can get that early plane. I call the honourable the minister.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Just to go through the facts, to explain them to the Australian public: when Labor was elected in 2007, they inherited from the Howard government a situation where four people were in detention, and none of those people were children. That is the first point to make. The second point, which the Labor Party do not like—and we saw the demonstration of that before—is this fact: over the course of the Labor government, having been elected in 2007, 50,000 people arrived on 800 boats. Our intelligence agencies were pushed to the limit and indeed beyond. This is a very, very important fact, because at the same time, Labor ripped out $700 million from our border protection agencies. They hamstrung the agencies with dysfunctional policies and the worst administration that this country had seen since federation. What has happened since the election of the Abbott government—let me tell you this—

Mr Champion interjecting—

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

The member for Wakefield will leave under 94(a) to get his early plane.

The member for Wakefield then left the chamber.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

over the last 12 months, under this government, we have seen one boat arrive. And yet in 2013, under Labor, there were 302 boats. At the same time, we have been able to put together a package of $630 million announced by the Prime Minister, the Minister for Justice and others, including my predecessor, who did a great job in this portfolio, that is part of this government's counter-terrorism response. It included $150 million for standing up 80 officer counter-terrorism units at airports across the country; $35 million for the outwards Advance Passenger Processing system; $50 million for outward departure gates; and $14 million to expand our global airline liaison officer network, and the work has—(Time expired)

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

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

The member for Rankin will leave under 94(a), and withdraw first.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

The member for Rankin then left the chamber.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister, and specifically in the context of the answer just given. Can the Prime Minister explain how the terrorist Khaled Sharrouf was allowed to leave Australia despite being on an airport watch list?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This terrorist was able to leave Australia because, regrettably, we were not able to change instantly all the bad systems that Labor had in place. Regrettably, it does take time to change systems.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

The Prime Minister is pointing something out to me that I cannot hear for the cacophony of noise.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was just the usual kind of cheap sneering and smearing that we expect from members opposite.

Opposition members interjecting—

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

There will be silence on my left!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They are getting rather worked up today, are they not? They are getting worked up, because at heart, when it comes to anything to do with border protection, members opposite have a deep sense of shame. They have a deep sense of shame, because they know they so badly let down our country.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, on a point of order: to be relevant, the Prime Minister needs to refer to a member of the death cult who he let out.

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

There is no point of order.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question has been asked by the person who has been by a long shot the most incompetent immigration minister in our country's history. I am afraid the legacy of incompetence cannot be changed overnight.

Mr Snowdon interjecting—

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

The member for Lingiari is warned!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is the truth. The legacy of incompetence that that man left is such that it does take some time to fix but, thanks to the biometric screening processes that this government is putting in place, something like that will never, ever occur again. You can trust the safety of this country with this government. You can trust the borders of this country with this government. We do not just spend money—we have the will. We have the will to stop this problem. Members opposite, in the end, just did not know what they wanted. They could not decide whether they were human rights lawyers or executives in charge of the security of this country. Well, we know what we are. We know that we are charged with the defence and the security of this country, and we will never let the Australian people down.