Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer. I refer to last night's budget and the $5 billion blow-out it revealed in the cost of protecting our borders over the next four years. Will the government now admit that the fact that more than 20,000 boat people have arrived so far this financial year is proof that the government has lost control of our borders in the same way as it has lost control of the budget? Will it admit that the extra $5 billion amounts to more than five times the $900 million cut from the tertiary education budget over the next four years or more than 13 times the amount the budget cuts from school funding? Why does the budget contain no plans to get the nation's borders back under control?