Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

It is bad enough that the Senate this week is having to debate the carbon tax legislation, which is based on the greatest lie that has ever been told to the Australian people. As if that were not enough, what the Senate is debating in this matter of public importance debate today is the greatest policy failure facing the Labor government and that is the policy failure in relation to border protection. Who can forget the words of the now Prime Minister of Australia, on execution day in 2009, when they politically executed the former Prime Minister, Mr Rudd. This was the reason that was given by the now Prime Minister, Ms Gillard, for Mr Rudd's execution:

I accept that the government has lost track. We will get back on track. I have taken control for precisely that purpose.

Not only that, but a few days later the now Prime Minister asked the Australian people not to judge her on how she became Prime Minister. She said:

The only thing I could say to Australians is to judge me on how I do the job.

Well, when Ms Gillard uttered those words she clearly was not referring to the job that the Labor government has done in relation to protecting Australia's borders. Far from breaking the people smugglers' model, which is the rhetoric of the Labor Party, the policies the Labor government have in place are seeing the people-smuggling business absolutely booming. We only have to go back to yesterday. What did we have? The arrival of yet another boat under this Labor government's watch. Ninety-four people were found and have been taken to Christmas Island.

In relation to the arrival of yet another boat the question the Australian people have to ask themselves is this: how much is the government's failure in relation to protecting Australia's borders going to cost us as taxpayers? After all, it may surprise the current government to know that it is the Australian taxpayer who ultimately pays the greatest price in relation to their failed border protection policies. The bad news for the mums and dads of Australia is that it is potentially going to cost them billions of dollars, and it is billions of dollars that have not been accounted for in the 2011-12 budget.

It is bad enough that the failure of the Labor Party in this important policy area has cost the Australian taxpayer in excess of $3 billion to date. Those costs will keep on rising. The current 2011-12 budget has a figure of around $1.3 billion to be spent in this important portfolio area. The only problem with that is this: the figure was based on just 750 boat arrivals. How the Labor Party ever got to that figure is beyond me, because, since 2008, when the Labor Party rolled back the Howard government's strong border protection policies, just under 13,000 people have reached our shores. So how they ever thought they were going to get that down to 750 in one year is beyond the comprehension of most people. But did we ever believe it? The answer is, no, we did not, and we have already been proved right. We are only into the fourth month of this financial year and already the budget in relation to this particular portfolio area has quite literally been blown out of the water.

Why do I say that? Well, if you budget for 750 arrivals and as at 2 November over 1,340 have arrived, and we still have three-quarters of this financial year to get through, there is clearly a cost implication. That cost implication does not worry the Labor Party because they think Australian taxpayers money is like Monopoly money. It is going to cost the mums and dads of Australia, who are already struggling under the rising cost of living pressure, who are going to struggle to pay their electricity bills once the carbon tax goes through and who are going to struggle to pay their gas bills once the carbon tax goes through. And as for discretionary income, there will not be any once the carbon tax goes through. In addition to that they are the ones who will ultimately pay for the absolute abject failure in this important policy area.

One thing the government has not done to date, and it is one thing the government should do, is come clean with the Australian people. The government should bring down a mini budget in relation to this portfolio area. Come clean with the Australian people. Be up front with them and let them know just how much more of their money is going to be spent on cleaning up Labor's border protection mess.

What is so unfortunate about the debate we are having today is that it is a debate that did not have to happen. We all know the reason for that. When the Labor Party assumed office in 2007 they inherited a solution. They inherited the Howard government's policies, which had reduced the boats coming to Australia to zero. But was that good enough for the Australian Labor Party? Good God no! How much lower can we get than zero? They do not know, but they rolled back those policies and what did we see the minute they rolled them back? The people smugglers knew that under the Australian Labor Party they were back in business. Under the former Howard government we sent a strong consistent message to people smugglers: Australia is closed for business. As at August 2008 that message went out the door and the doors to Australia were opened. Less than $100 million a year was spent by the Howard government in this important portfolio area. Under the current government the Australian taxpayers, the mums and dads who work hard, are paying in excess of $1 billion a year. The crime is that it never needed to happen.

What is the Labor Party's solution? Is it to adopt the Howard government's proven policies? No, they could not do that because they could not swallow their pride and do it, even though they know it will work. What did they put up? The Malaysia solution, or the now failed Malaysia solution, which we still know is the preferred option of Minister Bowen. But this is the bad news for Minister Bowen: even if the parliament were to pass the Malaysia solution, the deal is over before it has started. The deal was only good for the first 800 boat arrivals. How many have arrived since the signing of the Malaysian deal? We have had 1,070 people and the deal was only good for 800 people. So, even if the parliament decided tomorrow to pass the Malaysian solution, the deal is over before it has even commenced, and the ALP, the government, are actually stuck with 270 people who are going to be processed onshore in any event. That is a catastrophic policy failure if I have ever seen one. Apart from the fact that in relation to the Malaysian solution—this is how good the Australian government are at negotiating deals—they negotiated into the deal clause 16, which stated 'this agreement is merely a statement of the political intentions of the parties'. And then they went a little bit further. They felt, 'Well, that's not a good enough negotiation; let's negotiate Malaysia out of this deal even further', so they negotiated into the agreement the following words: 'This agreement is not legally binding on the parties.' That is the solution that the Labor Party held up to the Australian people.

If the Labor Party truly want offshore processing, as they continue to tell us they do—Minister Bowen was on television only this morning, yet again committing the Labor Party to offshore processing—they could actually have it tomorrow. They could have it tomorrow if they only agreed to one amendment—and that amendment is actually the policy that the Labor Party took to the previous election: that a country has to be a signatory to the UNHCR treaty. That is the promise that the Gillard government made prior to the election. Our small amendment will actually help the Labor Party keep their promise to the Australian people. But in this area this government's policy is a catastrophic failure. They should swallow their pride and adopt the former Howard government policy— (Time expired)