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

Senator Back has again been asked to ask a question that is misleading. The senator would be aware that, under this government as well as under the previous government, there has been a nominal amount allocated for unauthorised arrivals funding and that full funding for those arrivals, whatever they were, has been recovered by the department during the financial year through additional estimates et cetera. There has traditionally been a very nominal number, and that was the case under the previous government. It has been done on the basis that projection in these things is difficult, and therefore the funding has followed the number of people who are detained. That was the basis for the figure of 200 included in the previous budget. It had been a figure like that for some years. Funding has then been sought by the department to meet the costs of dealing with unauthorised arrivals. It is the same methodology that applied under the Howard government and it is a methodology that has stood the test of time. Clearly the number of arrivals is determined and announced during the year and they are funded as I have described.