Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to reports that the government is paying wads of cash to criminal people smugglers at sea to smuggle asylum seekers back to Indonesia. Is the Prime Minister concerned that these reports in Indonesia give criminal people smugglers new incentives to set out for Australia?

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

Perhaps I could best answer the question from the Leader of the Opposition by referring the House to a question that was put to the opposition just the other night. I quote:

The ABC asked the Opposition if it could rule out the possibility that … ASIS agents made payments to people smugglers during the Rudd-Gillard years. Its response: it's unlawful to divulge security or intelligence information.

I am going to say to members opposite that we adhere to Australian law and we stopped the boats. That is what we do: we adhere to Australian law and we stop the boats. Members opposite, who are so upset about what they claim the government may have done, or agents of the Australian government may have done, signally failed to stop the boats. That is the problem. Members opposite just do not like the fact that this government has stopped the boats and they did not. In fact, members opposite started the boats and this government has stopped them.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I have a point of order. The Prime Minister is again not answering the question. I ask that you direct—

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

The member for Isaacs will resume his seat. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

We will do whatever is necessary within the law and in accordance with our values as a decent and humane society to stop the boats and to ensure that they stay stopped. That is what we will do. We will do whatever is necessary within the law to stop the boats and to ensure that they stay stopped. What will Labor do? We know what they did in government: they started the boats. Because they lacked the intestinal fortitude to make the decisions that were needed, under members opposite we had more than 50,000 illegal arrivals by sea, we had almost a thousand illegal boats and, tragically, we had more than a thousand deaths at sea. Compare all of that and the fact that there was an $11 billion budget blow-out in border protection, and it pales into insignificance. What this government has done is that we have stopped the boats. I want to say to the Leader of the Opposition, who asked this tawdry question: not only is what this government has done legal; it is moral. It is absolutely moral because the most moral thing to do is to stop the boats and save the lives.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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

The member for Moreton will desist.