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

While that may have made a lot of sense to those opposite, it was impossible to determine a new cause, Operation Sovereign Borders. Yes, it was; no, it was not, yes, it was; no, it was not; yes it was in one page of Hansard. Do not forget, it was not just whether Operation Sovereign Borders was a new reason that had never come up before. It was also Operation Sovereign Borders, because they were not getting the information and the information was drying up from the department of immigration.

We had seven different answers in terms of the drying up of this information—an issue that had never come up before and had never been raised with us to the best of my knowledge. We ask again: when did this occur? When did this drying up of information occur? Answer 1: it was after the implementation of Operation Sovereign Borders, which—as everybody here knows—was late September 2013, after the federal election. Answer 2: in December 2013 the information started to dry up. Answer 3—