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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy) and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation (Senator Wong) to questions without notice asked by Senators Cash and Cormann today relating to asylum seekers.

I rise to take note of answers given by Senator Conroy and Senator Wong to questions asked by Senators Cash and Cormann. The answer that Minister Conroy gave in relation to the question that I asked him today confirms without a doubt this government's contempt for border protection policy and national security in Australia. I asked what was an exceptionally important question in relation to the almost non-detention of a then convicted jihadist terrorist. The minister, in answering my question, said the opposition were 'engaging in serial, reckless fear-mongering'. If that type of answer does not confirm that, when it comes to national security, those on the other side packed up their bags and left a long time ago, then I do not know what does. Those on the other side are now responsible for the greatest number of illegal arrivals to come to Australia in our history.

As at today, we have 42,520 people who have arrived here illegally by boat. Australia is currently trending at 100 people arriving per day. You have to remember to put that into context. The reason that the current Prime Minister politically executed the former Prime Minister, Mr Rudd—and in a few days we will have the third anniversary of that—was that he had failed to stop the boats. If Mr Rudd had failed to stop the boats, I do not know what the Australian people must think the current Prime Minister has done. Maybe next week that will be the answer to the political execution of Ms Gillard: that Ms Gillard made a number of promises when she took over on 24 June 2010 and she has failed to discharge one of those promises. Let's wait and see what happens next week.

Most policy makers would acknowledge that the No.1 priority of any Commonwealth government is the security of its nation and its borders. If you do not have secure nations and if you do not have strong border protection in a country, then quite frankly you have nothing. If a government is serious about ensuring the security of its borders it will take action in terms of policy that does just that. But, when it comes to securing the borders of this country, this government gave up a long time ago. If we want further proof of that, it is what happened in relation to the Egyptian terrorist—the man with an INTERPOL Red Notice issued against him—who came here by boat, got through our immigration detention vetting process and was released into very low-security detention. The question that the Australian people need to ask is: how does it happen that a convicted jihadist terrorist can present himself to ASIO, the Federal Police and the immigration department and no-one seems to pick up that he is a convicted jihadist terrorist with an INTERPOL Red Notice against his name? The seriousness of the INTERPOL Red Notice has to be taken into consideration, because there was another man who had an INTERPOL Red Notice against his name and that man was Osama bin Laden.

Perhaps what is more serious is the contempt with which the Prime Minister reacted when she was made aware that a convicted jihadist terrorist was sunning it up in the Adelaide Hills. Basically, as far as the Prime Minister and those on the other side were concerned, it was not a breach of national security or a failure to protect our borders; it was just another incident under a failed Labor government. That is just not good enough. The government, through their handling of and response to this incident, have shown Australians that they have well and truly given up when it comes to border protection and national security in this country.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to contradict much of what Senator Cash has just contributed to the chamber. Once again we have scare tactics—'Let's go out and scare people as much as we can. Let's inflame the conversations that might be had around the water cooler. Let's not talk about the measures that this government has actually implemented since it has been in government. Let's just keep on the very negative track that we have taken since we went into opposition. We can keep talking about the negative aspects. We can refer to people as being "illegal" when arriving in boats. We can talk about this, but we do not have to always talk about the facts.'

We know that those opposite seem to refer to The Australian on a regular basis. That is where they get their research material from when it comes to question time and tactics. I can understand that if you are as bereft of talent as they are on that side, that is probably what you have to do. I would just like to refer to Admiral Chris Barrie, former Chief of the Defence Force, and what he had to say on the opposition's policy of 'Stop the boats. Tow them back.' We can see Mr Abbott in his speedos swimming out to the boats and saying, 'Stop, stop. Don't come any further. You have to go back.' How ridiculous. I wonder how many of those people on the other side have actually spoken to any of the men and women in the Australian Navy who were put in that position in the past under the Howard government. How many have you actually spoken to? I have spoken to them. I have relatives in the Navy. They have been very, very emotional circumstances in which they have found themselves. That is not motivation for going into the Australian Navy. They are not there to make the decisions that the government should be making by having good policies like we have.

I will just come back to some comments that Admiral Chris Barrie made. He said: 'You can imagine that the opposition in government might be able to secure an arrangement with Indonesia. It might be possible for two armed forces to work together to execute some sort of policy. What worries me is that we have not got that far and we are making statements about what we are going to do without the agreement of the government of Indonesia. I connected the dots on this. When I look at the numbers that are starting to arrive in boats now, I wonder to myself if this is connected to the 14 September election date. Furthermore, it puts our people in the Navy, Border Protection Command and Customs in a very difficult situation—being, if you like, between the jaws of dealing compassionately with these people who want to come to Australia and policy being driven by people who frankly really do not want to see the problems for what they are. Putting our commanders and ships' companies in that situation, I think, is a terrible position for us to be in.'

He is quite right. It is a terrible position for us to be in. But, once again, when it comes to question time, we have those on the opposition resorting to scare tactics, trying to talk up the negativity that they are renowned for. They do not ask questions about the economy and how strong it is. They are not asking questions about the government's job plan. They do not come in here and ask any questions about reform in aged care and the benefits that that will bring to older Australians. They are not talking about the groundbreaking NDIS and the better quality of life that that is going to bring to those with disability and the better employment opportunities for those same people. Mr Deputy President, you yourself would know of the great benefit there is going to be for young Tasmanians with the pilot project that has been launched in our home state of Tasmania. These are the issues that this government has tackled—the hard decisions—after 11½ very long years of inaction from those opposite on the big issues.

The NBN was talked about in question time today. We are all of course concerned about the asbestos that has been found. But the opposition will not acknowledge the benefit that the NBN is going to bring to Tasmania and to the rest of the country, particularly rural Australia. Rural and regional residents are going to have the same capacity as those in the larger metropolitan cities. Here we are in the final two weeks of this parliament and what are they doing? Once again it is scare, scare, scare. (Time expired)

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Labor government has comprehensively stuffed up our border protection arrangements. By comprehensively stuffing up our border protection arrangements not only have they recklessly and irresponsibly put our national security at risk; they have also put huge additional pressure on our budget. Just as a result of Labor's ongoing border protection fiasco, the budget for this year is not worth the paper it was written on. You have to remember that the previous coalition government had fixed this problem. Through genuine offshore processing of all illegal arrivals, through temporary protection visas to ensure people smugglers no longer had a product to sell and by turning around these boats coming from Indonesia with Indonesian crew whenever it was safe to do so, the previous coalition government had fixed the problem.

But this Labor government, first led by then Prime Minister Rudd with Deputy Prime Minister Gillard at the time, thought they knew better. They comprehensively dismantled what was a successful policy framework and the results were there to see almost immediately. If you look at the graph over a long-term period you will see that as soon as the Labor government dismantled the policy framework on border protection that was put in place by the Howard government there was a huge spike in illegal boat arrivals that has not been reversed. Under this government, since they weakened our previously strong border protection arrangements, there have been 44,452 illegal arrivals on 724 boats. This year alone there have been 24,541 illegal arrivals on 384 boats.

The reason that is important is that this government's budget in 2012-13, incredibly and unbelievably, was based on an assumption that there would be just 5,400 illegal arrivals. In MYEFO they updated that to 12,000 illegal arrivals for 2012-13. But, guess what? The actual number of illegal arrivals so far is more than 4.5 times as high as what was predicted in the budget and twice as high as what was predicted in MYEFO.

I asked the minister today whether she stood by the prediction in the budget that between this year and next year the number of illegal arrivals would fall by about 46 per cent. The minister gave us a lecture on the methodology that was set out in the budget papers—we already knew that. But the one thing that the minister refused to do today was stand by the budget projection that the number of illegal arrivals by boat would reduce by 46 per cent. The reason for that is that she cannot. Given the current trend of about 100 illegal arrivals a day by boat, if the policies of the current government continue there is no way that there will be a sudden drop next year to just 36 illegal arrivals a day, as is predicted by the minister for finance in the expenditure projections in the budget. We call on the secretaries of Treasury and Finance to reflect on the current trend of illegal arrivals by boat and, if the government's current policy settings are maintained, make whatever adjustments to the pre-election economic and fiscal outlook they consider to be appropriate in their objective and independent judgment.

The government's record on border protection is outrageously incompetent. It has been an extraordinary fiasco. It is one that was predictable and was indeed predicted by the coalition. Not only have we a situation where we have had more than 44,000 illegal arrivals, we have actually had boats arrived in Geraldton undetected. For the people of Sydney that is the equivalent of an illegal boat arriving undetected in Port Macquarie. It is completely unacceptable. We have had a person with an INTERPOL Red Notice—a convicted jihadist terrorist—housed behind a pool fence. This government has to go just because of the absolute and comprehensive failure of its border protection arrangements. (Time expired)

Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We talk about immigration policy and straightaway we go to the politicising of the very nature of that policy. What the questions asked today and this motion by the opposition to take note have demonstrated are the very politicising of the incredibly complex issue that is immigration.

We know very well that this is not a straightforward issue. That is why we had experts in the field—experts from the military and from civil society—come together to provide expert policy advice for us, to look at the way we could improve immigration policy issues in this country. As members of the expert panel have said, the results will begin to show when the full suite of measures is implemented. But the relentless negativity of the opposition has prevented us from doing that. They do not want a solution on this issue because they want to continue to be able to politicise and create negativity and divisiveness within the Australian community.

It is very timely that we should be talking about this, because this is Refugee Week. It is a week in which we reflect on the contribution that refugees have made to our nation. It is a week in which we reflect on the contribution by made refugees who have settled here; who have come from war-torn countries, from places of conflict, to settle and live a life of comfort, stability and freedom and to rebuild their lives. It is a week in which we reflect upon the heritage that they have, upon the families perhaps that they have left behind in order to settle, rebuild and create a new life here. We welcome them to do so. We welcome them because we are a supportive, compassionate nation. We are a nation that is a signatory to the refugee convention, which entails us to take in a number of refugees a year—as do other developed countries around the world, such as the US, the European Union and the like—to ensure that we can do our bit for the displaced people around the world. It is a compassionate policy. We in the Labor Party stand by it because we are a party based on the values of compassion, equality and doing what is right for people. However, those on the other side want to do the opposite. They want to demonise and politicise when it comes to issues regarding those who are seeking asylum in this country. We have just heard all of it from Senator Cormann, who was talking about illegals. I do not know how many times he uses the word 'illegals'—he loves that word 'illegals'; it is a positive word, isn't it?

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let us talk about illegal immigrants all the time! It is a divisive word, Senator Cormann. You are deliberately politicising this issue by using that sort of language because you want to divide the nation. The nation needs to wake up and recognise—

Honourable senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Singh, please do not place your comments across the chamber; direct them to the chair. Senators on my left: please do not interject.

Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My apologies, Mr Deputy President. It is the divisive language being used by the opposition that leads this issue to becoming a very politicised one. I found it disrespectful that, while I was trying to listen to Senator Wong's answer to Senator Cormann's question during question time, all I heard was heckling by Senator Cormann. I do not think he actually wanted to hear the answer from Senator Wong. Again, he just wanted to add fuel to the fire and politicise the issue. We know that, when it comes to this issue, the opposition do not have anything but slogans to offer—very simple words like 'stop the boats'.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can you stop the boats? On the issue of stopping the boats, Julie Bishop has been contradicted by the Indonesian ambassador on her line of 'Yes, we're going to work with the Indonesia and turn back the boats.' That is absolutely untrue. There is no support from the Indonesian government for the opposition's policy to turn back boats. It is complete nonsense. I wonder how much longer we are going to hear these slogans of 'stopping the boats' and 'turning back the boats' when the opposition know very clearly that they are actually damaging our relationship with Indonesia. The opposition continually raise this issue like it is all done and dusted, when that is certainly far from the case. (Time expired)

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have just been sitting back, flabbergasted, by what I have just heard from Senator Singh, because, in essence, what she has been saying for five minutes is that the current government's border protection policies are good, that they work and that she supports them. I am astonished that someone—anyone, actually—on that side of the chamber could get up and, hand on heart, defend the chaotic and irresponsible approach on border protection that prevails in this country.

I will just pick up on a couple of comments that Senator Polley made. I actually have a lot of personal regard for Senator Polley, but it does concern me that, when those opposite are asked about this issue, their response is such a defensive and reactive one. They direct their criticism at us, and all they can talk about is negative politics and scare tactics. The facts of the matter are quite simple, and that is that the failure of the border protection policies of this government is a national disgrace. Every one of you on that side of the chamber should bow your heads in shame at what is facing this country. It is a national disgrace.

It does not matter, as Senator Cash has already raised today, who is the leader of this Labor government: it does not matter whether it is Kevin Rudd, the member for Griffith; it does not matter whether it is the current Prime Minister. The fact of the matter is that every one of them has supported this public policy, which has consistently failed year after year, month after month, week after week and day after day. As my colleagues Senator Cash and Senator Cormann have said, we are now seeing on average 100 unlawful maritime arrivals each and every day. The consequences of that for this country are huge. Until the senators on that side of the chamber get their heads around the national security significance of that and, may I say, the humanitarian consequences of that, they are actually condemning us all by their very actions.

This is an example of yet another promise that Prime Minister Gillard has broken—just as she has done with the carbon tax promise and just as she has done with so many of her other promises. I remember one of the very early ones that she made when she was education minister: every child at school will have a laptop. Everybody has stopped talking about that one, because that is just one of dozens of promises that she has broken either as a minister of this government or as the Prime Minister. But I have to say that this promise is one that the government will go down in history for and be judged on. Australians hold this Gillard government in contempt for their chaotic and shambolic approach to border protection, and of all their policies it will go down in history as the most damning one. We have heard, yet again, the government's denial of the significance of their failure with border protection policies for this country.

Senator Cash, today, quite rightly raised questions in relation to how the INTERPOL Red Notices were dealt with. These were matters that I raised during estimates. I asked how the integrity of the INTERPOL Red Notices were assessed, how they were ascertained and what the process was. Yet, what we heard from the minister responding today was just a rant. He did not deal with the essence of that question. He could not assure us as to how that was dealt with.

I want to briefly return to Senator Polley's question about whether any of us on this side have spent time with Customs and Border Protection officers or Navy men and women who are dealing with this issue. I have to tell her that, yes, we have. Only a couple of weeks ago, officers were telling me how difficult they are finding it. They did not join the Navy to be a ferry service; they joined to protect our country—and I support them in the work they do.

Question agreed to.