Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

As I have stated previously, the matter is currently before the High Court, and, accordingly, it would not be appropriate to comment any further on the matter. I can, however, reiterate the words of the minister, who has stated that any person who is in the care and protection of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service will be in good care, and they are in good care.

I would also make this point, however: as Senator Hanson-Young raises the issue of the children, I will just remind the senator and those opposite that, in 2007, when the Howard government lost office, there were four people in immigration detention who had arrived by boat, and not one of them was a child. The reason that we are in this situation today is due solely, completely and utterly to the fault of those on the other side who were so actively encouraged, on a minute-by-minute basis, by the Australian Greens, led, of course, by Senator Hanson-Young, who, it is unfortunate, sometimes does believe that immigration policy is formed on the basis of an episode of Sea Patrol. Senator Hanson-Young, I can assure you: it is far more serious than that—in particular, when the policies you supported contributed directly to in excess of 1,200 innocent men, women and children dying at sea. They are the policies you support; they are not the policies that those on this side support.