Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Attorney-General, Senator Brandis, representing the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Can the minister advise the Senate how many people-smuggling ventures have successfully made it to Australia in 2014? How does this compare to previous years?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Dean Smith for that question. Senator Dean Smith is a Western Australian Liberal senator. There is no greater body of men and women in this chamber than the Western Australian Liberal senators. I am happy to update Senator Dean Smith on the success of the government's promise to stop the boats. I can tell Senator Smith and honourable senators that it is now 98 days since the last successful people-smuggling venture arrived in Australia. During the equivalent 98 days a year ago in 2012-13, there were 60 boats and 3,414 people who arrived under the former Labor government. So, in the course of a year, with the change of government, we have gone from 60 boats to zero. If there isn't an unlawful arrival in the next 48 hours, Saturday will mark the 100th day during which there will have been no unlawful arrivals.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And they said it couldn't be done!

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is possible to do it, Senator Cormann. The Labor Party did say it couldn't be done, and in fact Senator Dastyari in a recent speech said that the Labor Party over the past few years have 'tossed and turned on these issues'. The way in which to implement and prosecute a difficult policy is not to toss and turn over the issues as Senator Dastyari says the Labor government did but to adopt the right policies and to implement them with a will that the former Labor government never showed. And, as a result, more than 1,000 innocent people lost their lives and Australia's borders were made insecure. They are secure now.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question: can the minister inform the Senate of the government's efforts to implement its promise endorsed by the Australian people at the last election to deny permanent visas for people who arrived in Australia illegally by boat and any challenges that may have arisen to the government fulfilling that promise?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a government that keeps its promises and, when we are unable to deliver on our promises, there is only ever one reason for it and that is because we are stopped from doing so in this chamber by the Australian Labor Party.

As Western Australians head for the polls on Saturday week, they will once again have a chance to cast their vote on whether they approve of the Liberal Party's strong border protection policies. At the last election we told people that, if elected, we would implement policies that would break the people smugglers' business model and restore integrity to our borders, and that is what we have done—unlike those opposite, who refuse to learn the lessons of history. We will not be deterred in our resolve to continue on to deliver on our promise to secure Australia's borders and implement the policies we announced.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question: can the minister inform the Senate of attempts in the parliament to frustrate the government's border protection policies that have ensured not a single successful people-smuggling venture has arrived in Australia for 98 days?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Undoubtedly, in the last 98 days, our policies have succeeded, but we have been trying to implement these policies with one arm tied behind our backs, thanks to the Labor Party and their allies, the Greens. They continue to refuse to support the government's mandate to deny permanent visas to people who come illegally by boat to this country—an important element of the suite of policies that we took to the 2013 election.

The Labor Party have learnt nothing from six years of cost, chaos and tragedy that occurred while this portfolio was under their watch. Those opposite still seem to think that it is a good idea to honour the people smugglers' promise and give people who have come to this country illegally by boat a permanent visa. We have been nothing but consistent in our approach to this problem, given the Labor party's 11 failed approaches to border protection.