Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese government has no higher priority than protecting the community and is committed to acting in accordance with the law. By contrast, the opposition has spent months wilfully misrepresenting the facts and the law and playing politics with community safety. Comments by the opposition that suggest that Operation Sovereign Borders is no longer in place is a flat-out mistruth and is directly counter to Australia's national security. Operation Sovereign Borders' policy architecture remains unchanged under this government. Unauthorised maritime arrivals—that is, people seeking to enter Australia on a boat, without a passport or visa—continue to be subject to offshore processing. We haven't changed our position. We provided bipartisan support under the previous government.

But Mr Dutton just can't help himself. He continues to engage in the sort of dangerous and destructive rhetoric that is so characteristic of this Leader of the Opposition. He's becoming a marketing tool for people smugglers—a flashing neon light across the region, making Australia a false honeypot. Let's be clear: the Liberals and Nationals want more boats to arrive. Emboldening people smugglers for political gain is a horrific failure of leadership.

Those opposite should know better than to use Senate processes like this MPI to peddle fear in the community and undermine our border operations. Rear Admiral Brett Sonter, Commander of the Joint Agency Task Force Operation Sovereign Borders, has made it abundantly clear. He said:

The mission of Operation Sovereign Borders remains the same today as it was when it was established in 2013 …

He went on to say one of the reasons was to 'prevent people from risking their lives'. He said:

Any alternate narrative will be exploited by criminal people smugglers …

The safety of the Australian community has been at the heart of every single decision this government has made. Following the High Court's decision, we put in place four additional layers of protection: the standing up of Operation AEGIS, a joint Australian Federal Police/Australian Border Force operation; stringent visa conditions, including curfews, electronic monitoring and reporting requirements; the Community Protection Board, consisting of officials from the Australian Border Force and the Department of Home Affairs, as well as former law enforcement officers; and, of course, court-ordered preventive detention and supervision orders—the same laws the opposition supported, may I add.

Another piece of disinformation from the Leader of the Opposition is that we are cutting funding to the Australian Border Force, a claim that was rubbished in the Sydney Morning Herald in February this year by David Crowe. There has, in fact, been an increase of $470 million under this government, including more than $200 million this year. This is supported by the ABF—Australian Border Force—commissioner, Michael Outram, who said:

Border Force funding is currently the highest it's been since its establishment in 2015 …

Australia's law enforcement agencies are working around the clock to enforce this strict regime and keep the community safe. We have confidence in them. They are doing an extraordinary job—a hard job—and we thank them for their work. They deserve everybody's support, including those opposite.

This government will never give people smugglers a window to resume their exploitative, dangerous operations. We are acting to keep Australia safe. Those opposite choose the low road, egging on people smugglers and dog whistling through their right-wing advertising and media mouthpieces, but this has real-world consequences. More people smugglers mean more grandparents, parents and children being slaughtered at sea. The policy we have is the same policy that was right before, and those opposite voted for what we've got today. We're dealing with it despite the crass political point scoring that comes so naturally to the opposition leader.