Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance today and, in doing so, I must say that today I have seen one of the worst performances from those opposite. The contribution that has been made is nothing short of appalling. I welcome the opportunity here today to be able to dispel the myths underpinning the arguments of those opposite and to set the facts straight about what the government has done and is doing in this critical area of border protection. I welcome the opportunity to set the facts straight about the global context that has given rise to people of many nations being displaced, some forced to flee from civil wars and the like. To set the facts straight about the world situations which have given encouragement to those involved in the despicable trade of people smuggling, it is important that the myths and any untruths are dispelled and corrected.

Border protection is indeed a matter of public importance and the Rudd Labor government takes this issue very seriously. Consistent with our election commitments, this government has overseen a tough and responsible policy of border protection. This policy encompasses a humane, respectful approach to those who are genuinely seeking asylum, while enforcing a hard line against people smugglers. Those opposite will tell you we have been soft. Still, they cannot even make up their minds on this. In the eyes of the member for Warringah, Mr Abbott, this government’s policy is supposedly brutal. At least, that is how he described it last month on ABC TV’s Lateline. Neither accusation is a reflection of the truth or grounded in reality.

This government has invested more resources in this area than the former government. We have more boats patrolling our waters than our predecessors had—a 25 per cent increase since 2007. We have a stronger interception record than the former government. The Rudd government has intercepted 98 per cent of boats before they reach the mainland, while under Mr Howard’s watch more than one in 10 boats got through to the mainland. Since September 2008 there have been 61 people-smuggling arrests and 23 people have been convicted on such charges. There are currently another 37 defendants before the courts relating to 17 people-smuggling offences.

All irregular maritime arrivals to Australia are placed under mandatory detention for identity, security and health checks. No-one is granted a visa to Australia or released into the community without undergoing a comprehensive security- and identity-checking process. In addition to convicting people smugglers and increasing Australia’s interception rates, the Rudd Labor government has returned more than 100 people to their countries of origin because their asylum claims have been refused. Just in the past 48 hours, six Sri Lankans who arrived by boat in April and were detained on Christmas Island were returned home after it was found they were not refugees under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This removal means that more than two thirds of the group’s 50 people now have been sent back to Sri Lanka after their claims for protection were assessed; 30 others returned voluntarily; 12 people from the same boat have been granted protection visas and settled on the mainland; and a further two people are in the final stages of their processing on Christmas Island.

The government has made it abundantly clear: those who deserve Australia’s protection under our international obligations will be given that protection. Those found not to be owed protection will be removed from Australia. This government has also been closely working with Asia-Pacific regional law enforcement and government officials combating people smuggling. One example of this crucial collaboration was the recent detention of Captain Bram, which was a major setback for people smuggling in the region.

The issue of unauthorised boat arrivals is not confined to Australia. It is a global problem. There are more than 42 million displaced people around the world. Of these people, the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, estimates that 16 million of them are refugees and asylum seekers, while 26 million are displaced within their own communities. Of the latter group, 4.6 million people were newly displaced in 2008. Most recently we have seen a surge of mainly Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers.

This situation has been driven by the push factors of conflict, persecution and insecurity—in these cases the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and the civil war in Sri Lanka and its aftermath. It is not a result, as those opposite would have us believe, of pull factors. It is not as a result of this government’s policy that people are seeking asylum in Australia. What we are experiencing here is happening at exactly the same time everywhere around the world. Between 2005 and 2008, the number of Iraqis, Sri Lankans and Afghans seeking asylum globally rose 193 per cent, 72 per cent and 139 per cent respectively. So the Liberal Party myth, the untruth, that Labor’s tough and humane immigration policy has caused the current increase in asylum seekers coming to Australia is nonsense—just as it is nonsense that the Howard government’s so-called Pacific solution caused a reduction in asylum seekers arriving in Australia between 2001 and 2003. There was a decrease in numbers during this time; we know that is true. But such decreases were happening all over the world. Between 2001 and 2003 the number of Iraqis, Sri Lankans and Afghans claiming asylum globally plummeted by 48 per cent, 61 per cent and 73 per cent respectively.

People movement in our region is not a new phenomenon. There have been surges in boat arrivals since the 1970s. From 1991 to 2001 under the former government, Australia saw more than 12,000 unauthorised boat arrivals. The Liberal Party did not claim then that pull factors were causing such movement to Australia, and they were not. The brutal regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq were causing people to flee their homelands and seek protection elsewhere. So, as I have already said, we have seen this people movement again in recent times.

I should make mention that just last week those opposite announced their asylum seeker policy in response to the government’s position. I use the term ‘policy’ quite loosely here for, as Minister Evans pointed out on Friday, it consists of four dot points. There is no detail in it and nothing substantive apart from calling for the return of the temporary protection visas available under the Howard government. And I quote Senator Evans regarding temporary protection visas: ‘Following their introduction, we then had the two largest years of boat arrivals in Australia’s history.’ The important point to make here is that temporary protection visas did not stop people coming and they never went home. When the Rudd government abolished temporary protection visas last year, the opposition did not block the move, and they now have a revolt on their hands in relation to the proposal to bring them back in. TPVs are an inhumane policy and they do not work. Interestingly, the TPV abolition is the only measure the government has taken on immigration that the opposition’s new four dot point so-called policy would overturn.

Rather than worry about the opposition’s squabbling over this issue, though, this government will continue to honour its election commitment to protect Australia’s borders whilst being tough on people smugglers and humane in our dealings with genuine refugees. We will be— (Time expired)