George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, we say no to that. We are saying no to your policies that force up the cost of living of ordinary families. Senator Conroy, we also say no to your litany of broken promises. Cost-of-living pressures were one of the great issues four years ago. The appeal to working families was one of the great issues of four years ago, but there were other issues as well.

Senator Abetz interjecting—

As my leader, Senator Abetz, says, whatever happened to Fuelwatch? It was an incompetent policy which was abandoned. Whatever happened to GroceryWatch? It was an incompetent policy that was abandoned.

But one of the other great issues four years ago, at the 2007 election, was the issue of border protection. You went to the 2007 election with Mr Kevin Rudd saying: 'There's one thing we stand against; we stand against offshore processing.' And this is a promise, as a matter of fact, that you did not break—one of the few—because less than a year later, in 2008, you abandoned offshore processing, and as a result you let the people smugglers back into business. Mr Deputy President, do you know the rate of unlawful arrivals in the last six years of the Howard government, before Labor abandoned John Howard's policies? There were an average of three boats a year.