Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I think I made clear why we have changed the permanent migration program: we want to stay responsive to the economy. It is interesting that the opposition are concerned about unlawful boat arrivals, given that I have heard nothing from them as the government has changed its policies in the last year to reflect a more humane treatment of asylum seekers. I do remind the Senate that the figures for arrivals for 2008 are exactly the same as for 2007 under the last year of the Howard government. I think there was an increase of 14 people over the year. What we have seen is a resurgence in people seeking asylum, particularly those fleeing Afghanistan and, I suspect, increasingly Sri Lanka, and those pressures will continue. But Australia maintains very strong border security measures—we retain the patrols; we retain the excision arrangements. We are committed to very strong border security. (Time expired)