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

It is possible to do it, Senator Cormann. The Labor Party did say it couldn't be done, and in fact Senator Dastyari in a recent speech said that the Labor Party over the past few years have 'tossed and turned on these issues'. The way in which to implement and prosecute a difficult policy is not to toss and turn over the issues as Senator Dastyari says the Labor government did but to adopt the right policies and to implement them with a will that the former Labor government never showed. And, as a result, more than 1,000 innocent people lost their lives and Australia's borders were made insecure. They are secure now.