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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I refer the minister to page 15 of the 2011-12 DIAC budget statements, which confirms that the government will spend just under $1.3 billion this financial year to deal with illegal boat arrivals. Isn't it the case that this figure is based on just 750 arrivals this financial year? Given that just in the first four months of the financial year over 1,340 asylum seekers have arrived, how many more billions of dollars will this government waste on its failed border protection policies?