Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Minister, could you update the House on the importance of strong and consistent border protection policies, and, Minister, are you aware of any risks associated with alternative approaches?

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

As it turns out, I am aware of those risks, and I thank the member for raising them today. Australians know that this Leader of the Opposition cannot be trusted. It doesn't matter what topic we're talking about. It doesn't matter whether it's on the economy. It doesn't matter whether it's in relation to border protection. Do not trust this man. Do not trust this man! No-one who's ever done a deal with him will ever trust this man again. The Australian public should be mindful of the fact that this man went to the last election promising that there would be no difference between Labor's border protection policy and ours, yet every single day since then he has wound the Labor Party back from the position of stopping the boats.

As it turns out we now have a majority of Labor Party members who are opposed to stopping the boats. There is a latest conscript to this cause. You may have seen the contribution to the debate in the last 24 hours from the member for Batman. As it turns out, the Labor member for Batman is more radical than the Greens candidate for Batman would have been on this topic. One of the most galling aspects of the hypocrisy of the member for Batman is that she would seek to lecture us on border protection policy. There's a lot of talk today about deals. The last deal I remember was done between the Labor Party and the Greens, which saw 1,200 people drown at sea. The last deal that I saw was between the Labor Party and the Greens, which saw 8,000 children go into detention. The last deal that I saw between this dodgy Leader of the Opposition and the Greens saw people squandering $16 billion of taxpayers' money to clean up Labor's mess. So what I'd say to the Australian people is never take this man on face value. Always look at the secret, dodgy deal that's just beneath the surface.

The fact is that this Leader of the Opposition will never control the Left of the Labor Party when it comes to border protection. If you live in Longman or in any other electorate around the country, don't trust Labor when it comes to boats policy. Always know that Labor will say one thing in opposition and they will unwind it when they get into government. If you want the boats to restart, and if you want the tragedy of the drownings at sea and the kids back in detention, vote for this man.