Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Evans as the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. Yesterday the minister told the Senate that the government has ‘invested more in border protection than any other government’. He also said, ‘We have a stronger presence in Australia’s northern waters than ever before.’ Could the minister tell the Senate what evidence he has that more patrol boats than ever before in our northern waters actually discourages the arrival of boats bearing asylum seekers?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Humphries would understand that the model for border protection, the patrolling by Navy and Customs vessels in our northern waters, was largely developed under the Howard government. Sure, they built on earlier efforts, but the increase in the patrolling methodology in our northern waters was established by the Howard government, and obviously increased resources—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator, you are quite right: from 1999 to 2001 it did not stop arrivals. One of the reasons why the Howard government increased the resources available was to try and ensure that any unauthorised arrivals were intercepted prior to landing on the mainland. The Howard government failed in that on a number of occasions and there were a number of mainland landings. But this government has increased patrolling resources and finances to build on the systems under Border Protection Command to patrol and manage our borders. They focus on unlawful unauthorised arrivals but they also focus on illegal fishing, as you well know, and any other issues of security concern in terms of entry to Australia. They play a similar role to that played by our Customs and Immigration officers at airports—that is, intercepting people and ensuring that their arrival is managed.

The senator’s question about whether or not people are deterred is obviously an important one. What we have found over the years is that it is partly about deterrence, but a large part is about interception and identification and ensuring that we manage anyone seeking to fish illegally or arrive unlawfully. That is the purpose and that is why we resource it seriously. (Time expired)

Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. The minister has told the Senate that the purpose of the extra patrol boats in northern waters is to control and manage arrivals. If that is the case, how does he explain the fact that a number of arrival vessels have actually reached the waters of Christmas Island before being detected, including the boat that arrived on Monday? How is that controlling or managing in any way these arrivals?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The details of that particular arrival are obviously something that the Senate ought to take up with the Border Protection Command and the Home Affairs portfolio—and the senator will get that opportunity at estimates next week. But I reminder the senator that, under the previous government, people were not landing on Christmas island; they were landing on the mainland unintercepted. It is true that some of these boats have been identified late—when they were very close to Christmas Island—but we have more resources out there. We have committed enormous financial resources and Defence and Customs platforms to provide the coverage that we think is appropriate, and we will continue to do so.

Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Given that, on the minister’s own admission, this policy is not able to control the flow of boats across the Timor Sea to Australia—it cannot even prevent boats from reaching the Australian mainland or Christmas Island before being detected—is it not time to change this policy and put in place a policy that actually discourages people from leaving Indonesia, rather than waiting until they get to Australian waters before acting?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the senator wants to ask a separate question. On questions that go to the issues of deterrence and working with international neighbours on prevention of departure, there are a range of measures there, and I am happy to discuss them with the senator. But I remind him that the problem of unauthorised arrivals has been with us for 30 years. We have seen successive waves of boat people arrive and we have had to intercept them in waters, usually successfully. Under the Howard government we had a number of arrivals direct to the Australian mainland.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was ages ago.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It may have been ages ago, Senator Abetz, but it is important to understand what we are dealing with. As I said, we have enormous resources dedicated to interdiction and to managing people seeking to come into this country unlawfully. But the range of measures that seek to deter arrivals and cooperate with our neighbours— (Time expired)