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

I will tell you the message it sends to people smugglers. It sends the message to people smugglers that if, one day in the future, there were ever to be another Labor government, they would be back in business because the Labor Party is not prepared to take the strong decisions that this government has had the spine to take to do everything necessary to deprive the people smugglers of a product to sell. Could I remind you, Mr President, that we have now had 835 days without a boat arrival. Since this government was elected, no-one has died at sea. Every one of the 2,000 children who were in detention as a result of the Labor Party's policies at the time that we came into power have been released, and 17 detention centres have been closed. That would all be lost if Labor came back to office.