Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

The government doesn't support this disallowance motion. Having listened to this lawyerly exposition of the Greens political party position about this, I have to say this is the most cynical contribution I've heard from Senator Shoebridge thus far. It is reprehensible.

The language that has been applied here to public servants doing their jobs as a 'quasi-military force'—that is cynical. It is calculated to create apprehensions in the community about decent people doing a difficult job under difficult circumstances. Suggesting that those people would watch a boat sink and that then they would act to cover it up—that is what Senator Shoebridge said not once, not twice but several times over the course of his contribution—is reprehensible. It is cynical. It is calculated to create more division.

Senator Shoebridge talks about 'dangerous cruelty'. Dangerous cruelty is adopting a position that you know will cause little kids and women and men to drown at sea. That is what dangerous cruelty is, and that is precisely the position that is being advanced here.

I have watched this debate over several decades. I have changed my view about some aspects of this, from bitter experience. For Senator Shoebridge, this is all about votes. That's what he said at the end of his contribution. Well, for the government, this is about security, and I want to go into some of those questions, but it is also about the responsible management of borders, and that has an absolute impact on securing the maximum amount of safety and discouraging people from engaging in dangerous voyages at sea. That is what this government's approach is and what previous governments approaches have been. The kind of soaring rhetoric that Senator Shoebridge seeks to engage in on this question is calculated to undermine that, and that should not stand.

A nation's security is fundamentally linked to its capacity to effectively control its own borders, including the flow of people and goods across those borders. That is a basic proposition. Our security and our prosperity depend upon robust border policies. The primary deterrent to any resumption of significant people-smuggling networks is in fact that policy framework. That includes boat turnbacks and other activities under Operation Sovereign Borders, conducted by Australian Border Force and Australian Defence Force personnel to combat people smuggling and irregular migration.

For a decade, this has effectively suppressed maritime people smuggling targeting Australia. It is essential to save lives, to ensure the integrity of our borders and to maintain public confidence in Australia's migration program. This instrument supports that by ensuring that personnel can conduct a full range of activities necessary to achieve these vital national security outcomes while protecting their own and others' safety.