Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

What a typically shallow approach to a very serious issue by members of the opposition. We are faced with the fact that for far too long now people smugglers have been able to peddle their lies and false promises, and that has led to far too many deaths at sea. The government's priority is to discourage people from making a dangerous boat journey and encourage the use of regular migration pathways.

In response to the report of the expert panel—and I know the opposition have heard this many times before, but I will tell them again—we are committed to implementing 22 recommendations that put in place a comprehensive approach to solving this problem. In particular, we are committed to establishing offshore processing centres on Nauru and PNG. We have announced that people who arrive by boat from August 2012 will gain no advantage over those who apply for protection offshore through the regular pathway, and we are increasing our refugee intake from 13,500 to 20,000 people a year to create an incentive to engage in the regular migration pathway.

Our message is very clear: anyone coming to Australia by boat without a visa will be subject to the no-advantage principle, including transfer to Nauru or PNG. As the full suite of recommendations of the expert panel is implemented, the government expects the business model of the people smugglers to crumble and fewer people waste their money and risk their lives on these very dangerous boat journeys across the sea.

Real results will begin to show as more of the recommendations can be implemented. If the coalition were really concerned about the number of people, they would not let their relentless negativity stand in the way of implementing all 22 recommendations of the expert panel. (Time expired)