George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Reynolds, I know that you, more than most people in this chamber, from your distinguished career prior to coming into the Senate, understand these issues well. So you will understand that, when there are 14,000 people, we assess, waiting in Indonesia to get on a boat to come to Australia, it is absolutely vital that none of those people be given the hope that they could, one day or another, even in the distant future, secure a resettlement in Australia. What this legislation has done is to ensure that that is not possible. Operation Sovereign Borders has successfully halted criminal people smuggling. Unfortunately, because of the position the Australian Labor Party takes, Australia does not present a unified face to the world, but, Senator Reynolds, this government does.