Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

So here we go. We are committed to protecting the integrity of our borders, and we are committed to protecting vulnerable people from being again submitted to the vile trade of the people smugglers. We are not doing anything other than applying the law and acting consistently with what governments of both persuasions have said in the past—because the Deputy Prime Minister who, in 2013, said that no-one who comes to Australia by boat without a visa would be settled in Australia was none other than the current Leader of the Opposition, Mr Anthony Albanese. In fact, the Labor Party in 2013 was running adverts—which were supposedly targeting people smugglers but were being run in Australia in the lead-up to the 2013 election—making the point that no-one who arrived in Australia by boat without a visa would be permanently settled in Australia. That was the right judgement at the time, that remains the right judgement now and that is the judgement that the Prime Minister and this government will stick to.