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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Lundy. I remind the minister that the 2012-13 budget forecast for the Immigration and Citizenship portfolio is based on 5,645 arrivals for the entire financial year. Given that boat arrivals for the last three months have averaged 2,000 per month, or 4.5 times the government's budgeted expectations, will the minister concede that, as a result of Labor's continued failure to implement the full suite of the Howard government's proven border protection policies, the departmental budget was comprehensively blown within the first three months of this financial year?