Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will go back to speaking about the then shadow minister, Ms Gillard, during the last five years of the Howard government, when only two people per month arrived illegally by sea—in contrast, of course, to the figure of 3,000 people. It was during the time when the odd vessel did turn up—by Jove it was infrequent!—that the then shadow minister Ms Gillard came out with the great statement, 'Another boat, another policy failure'!

I will tell you how many there were in the six years of the Labor government. There were 800 policy failures because 800 boats brought some 50,000 illegal arrivals to this country, costing the economy more than $12 billion in added costs.

Senator Hanson-Young came into this place and asked a question yesterday, and she had a motion before this chamber today, seeking information from Minister Scott Morrison regarding allegations of improper conduct on Nauru. Quite properly, through the assistant minister here in this place, Minister Morrison said that he would direct his department to fully investigate these allegations. One would hope they are not true. One would hope there is not one element of truth. But what was Senator Hanson-Young's motivation in going straight into the public arena and speaking of these matters as if they are facts. They are not facts until proven, and I can assure you that if I know anything of Mr Morrison, both as a minister and as a person, he will be directing his department to report fully. I am sure that through Assistant Minister Cash we will learn the outcome of that circumstance.

In the short time I have left, I wish to direct the attention of the chamber to the commitment of the Abbott government to increasing the number of genuine refugees up to 20,000 people—that is, 20,000 people who will be able to come when we stop the illegal boat arrivals.