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

If we do not have control over our Humanitarian Settlement Services program we are effectively doing what those opposite did for the six years they were in government and we are ceding control to the people smugglers. These are the people who market the voyage to Australia with the promise of permanent residency at the end of it. These are the people who are more than willing to put women, men and children on leaky boats, risking their lives again on the false promise of permanent residency in Australia. On this side of the chamber we understand, as do the overwhelming majority of Australians who voted for our policies at the last election, that a government needs to retain control over its resettlement program and, as long as this government is in office, that is exactly what we will do.