Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thirteen years ago I saw true evil up close and, for the first time in my life, I understood it. The events of 2001 and 2002 left an indelible mark on me. As chief of staff to Chris Ellison, the Minister for Justice and Customs during one of our most challenging periods in government—September 11, the Bali bombings, the Tampaand SIEV X—I personally experienced the best and the worst of humanity. And the lessons I learned then, both as a human being and in government, about both national security and border protection are just as relevant today.

As I said in my first speech, it was at the Bali hospital, where Australians were lying in the morgue, that I came to truly understand that those who desire to destroy democracy do not respect our national compassion. Instead, they see it as weakness and wait for opportunities to exploit it. To the day I die, I will never forget what I saw, what I heard and what I smelt there. Through these experiences, dealing with people smugglers and terrorists, I came to understand that in government compassion has to be balanced by strength and by decisiveness. Compassion for those impacted by the most heinous of crimes must be balanced with the strength to deal with the criminals.

This very morning in this chamber I observed that senators on the other side routinely proselytise about fairness, as if somehow their own personal points of view on fairness is the singular truth and that everybody else is wrong—or, worse, that everyone else is unfair and uncompassionate. But the truth is that nobody in this place has a mortgage on compassion. Instead, we have differing philosophical perspectives on fairness and on policy. I know from three years of personal experience that border integrity is one of the toughest areas of government policy but nonetheless one of the most important. There is no greater responsibility for any government than managing our borders and having a tough but fair managed migration program—one that is inherently safe and therefore the most compassionate.

Senator Hanson-Young interjecting—

But responsible governments do not take the easy way; they do what is right. I can hear the interjections from Senator Hanson-Young, and I would say to her that having personally received phone calls to advise that people—women and children—were drowning on sinking boats, in the most heinous and awful circumstances, I still cannot describe today how terrible that is. When you have actually experienced that you will come to truly understand how I feel and why I feel so strongly about this.

Senator Hanson-Young interjecting—