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

As with so many policies that we inherited from those opposite, in terms of arrangements for bridging visas to ensure that we could let children out of detention, they were quite simply inefficient. In fact, they were a blank piece of paper. So what did we on this side do? Instead of just ticking a box, which is what those on the other side would have done, we ensured that we had the appropriate support arrangements in place for families and children so that we could release them into the community with the appropriate support services on visas. Since Mr Morrison's announcement on 19 August 2014, almost 90 per cent of children under 10 and their families who arrived prior to 19 July last year have been released from held detention into the community. These changes represent good policy, common sense and a compassionate response to dealing with children in detention.