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

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. I see not a single shred of compassion in any deliberate government policy that would encourage tens of thousands of people to put their lives at risk. Under Labor, with the support of the Greens, more than 1,100 human beings drowned at sea—the most horrific deaths imaginable. Where were those opposite then and how can they possibly still advocate today that this is a compassionate policy and approach? I have tried very hard over the years to understand their brand of compassion, and I just cannot get there.

The circumstances that Senator Milne and Senator Hanson-Young—I can hear her again—talked about today are a direct result of their policy failures. We learned in 2001 as a government and as a nation that the only way to preserve the integrity of our borders and to stop people putting their lives at risk was to put the people smugglers out of business—and the only effective way to do that is to ensure they cannot sell the promise of permanent residency and ultimately citizenship in Australia. Labor's loss of control of our borders resulted in 50,000 illegal arrivals on 800 boats and cruelly denied over 14,000 others, arguably more deserving, a place under our offshore humanitarian program. What is even more mind boggling is the fact that once it was clear that this was happening and that the series of 11 policy flip-flops by Labor were not working, they still continued with these policies and people continued to die.

In conclusion, people smugglers are going out of business, people are no longer drowning at sea and our detention centres are once again emptying. To me, that is the most compassionate outcome of all. (Time expired)