Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Lundy. I refer to the detention statistics published by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship five years ago on 23 November 2007, the day before Labor was elected, that noted that there were just four people in all forms of detention who had arrived illegally by boat in Australia. How many people who have arrived illegally by boat are today in detention or on a bridging visa?

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the moment we are, of course, in the process of implementing the recommendations of the expert working panel. It is unfortunate to see how much glee the coalition get out of the number of boats that have arrived when they have for so long held up reinstating offshore processing due to their cheap and nasty political calculations. It is the same hypocritical calculation the coalition have made to prevent the implementation of the Malaysia arrangement. They just do not want the government's border protection policies to proceed.

We are of course committed to implementing the recommendations of the expert panel, of which reopening Nauru and Manus Island were priority recommendations to stop the flow of boats and prevent the loss of life on dangerous journeys to Australia. As the minister and the members of the expert panel have said many times, the real results will begin to show as more of the recommendations can be implemented. They work as a suite of measures, and no-one in this government has ever said Nauru, Manus Island or any of them would work on their own.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order in relation to relevance. My question was actually quite a simple one today to enable the minister to be directly relevant. It is merely a comparison of the figures that I gave the Senate in relation to the number of people who were in detention—all four of them—the day before the Rudd government was elected to office. My question is merely: how many people are today in detention, whether or not they are in detention or on a bridging visa?

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

On the point of order: Senator Lundy has been giving a comprehensive answer to the question asked of her. She is allowed two minutes to respond to the question. She has been going only half of that time. I suggest that she is being absolutely relevant to the question asked of her and has provided context about detention and bridging visa policy.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister has 53 seconds remaining, and I do draw the minister's attention to the question

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, we are in the process of implementing. In terms of the direct comparison, the numbers I have before me relate to the number of boats and irregular maritime arrivals, not 'illegals', as they are incorrectly called by the coalition. The number of IMAs in 2012 was 15,667, with the number of boats totalling 252. I do have the accumulated numbers across the previous years, but, I think, for the purposes of this question, the coalition are making yet another cheap point. They failed to support our Malaysia arrangement and the full suite of operations and recommendations—

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tell us the number.

Opposition senators interjecting—

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you were listening, Senators opposite, you would have heard me say the numbers for 2012. I can sit here and add them up over the eight years— (Time expired)

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! If there were not the interjections, people would be able to hear the answers to the questions. Senator Cash.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. What is the cost to state and territory governments of releasing into the communities thousands of asylum seekers on bridging visas and welfare?

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cash asked this question and knows full well that, under the arrangements between the Grants Commission and the way in which the states are compensated across that system, there is an allowance for the net overall migration. I am not able to provide the exact figures that Senator Cash requires but make the point that it is all well and good for Senator Cash to stand up and ask these comparative questions when this opposition have continually stymied and blocked our efforts to manage our borders and to stop the flow of boats.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They have done that deliberately and cynically because they want to see the policy fail. They have failed to support the recommendations of the independent expert panel and they continue to do so, as you can see by the disruption across the chamber.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister guarantee that state and territory services and taxpayers will not be worse off by the government's decision to release into the community on welfare thousands of asylum seekers who have arrived on illegal boats?

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, as Senator Cash well knows, we have a comprehensive program with regard to the releases into the community. For many people who find themselves embarking on the settlement process when they are found to be owed protection, our settlement service provision provides for not only English language training for those people but also a range of quite specific settlement services.

In relation to BVEs and other releases into the community, we have several programs, including the CAS and ASAS programs, which provide support, again utilising the contracted services of service providers in the community services sector that have experience in delivering those services.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I again rise in relation to a point of order on relevance.

My question was not in relation to the types of programs that are accessible under the humanitarian services program. My question was a very, very specific one: can the government guarantee that the state and territory services and taxpayers will not be worse off as a result of the government's decision?

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I believe the minister is answering the question. The minister still has 17 seconds to address the question.

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I reject the premise of the question, because contained within it is an implication that there is a burden. There is not. We are providing the Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme and, where necessary, the community assistance scheme, and those programs have been well in place for some time. So the implication is designed to cause division and to— (Time expired)