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

My question is to the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator Cash. Can the minister update the Senate on the number of illegal maritime arrivals who have entered Australia since the commencement of Operation Sovereign Borders and how this compares with the number of those who have voluntarily departed?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Smith for the question. The government's actions to stop the boats from arriving recently passed a significant milestone, with more illegal arrivals having left Australia and offshore processing centres since the commencement of Operation Sovereign Borders than have arrived. While 1,111 people arrived illegally by boat from 18 September until 19 December last year—before our full suite of border protection policies was introduced—over 1,120 people have now either voluntarily returned home from offshore processing centres or have departed Australia.

In other words, what we are now seeing, with the coalition government's border protection policies, is a very significant increase in the number of people who are voluntarily going back—particularly among those who are on bridging visas. The facts show that, when illegal maritime arrivals discover they are not going to get a permanent protection visa from this government, they are voluntarily putting their hands up to return home. When you take off the table the promise of the people smugglers—that a government will encourage people to come here and will reward those people with permanent protection—and you say, 'No, the only thing you will get if you come to Australia is a temporary protection visa,' the fact that people are now putting their hands up and saying, 'I want to return home,' shows that our policies work.

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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Given the monsoon season ended some time ago—and in recent years this has heralded a dramatic increase in illegal boat arrivals—can the minister advise the Senate of the number of successful people-smuggling operations this year compared with 2013?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I can advise the Senate that the number of successful people-smuggling ventures to Australia in 2014 remains at zero. I remind senators that the last successful people-smuggling venture to Australia was on 19 December 2013. Of course we are aware that there will always be those who seek to test us, but we remain vigilant and we remain determined. In answer to Senator Smith's question about how this compares with 2013, I advise the Senate that on this day exactly one year ago, 24 June 2013, Labor's disastrous border protection policies saw 214 IMAs arriving on several boats.

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

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Given that a vital component of the coalition government's border protection policies is the reintroduction of temporary protection visas, can the minister advise the Senate what impediments are preventing their introduction?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all know what those impediments are. They are those on the other side, teaming up yet again in this place with their coalition partners, the Greens, to block the reintroduction of temporary protection visas—which we were given a very clear mandate to reinstitute at the last election. It is interesting to note the words of the former immigration minister, Mr O'Connor, who—again just one year ago, on 23 June 2013—said:

… the Parliament has to act in the national interest, and also, quite frankly, in the interest of those people that are in great danger on the high seas because they're being lured on to these vessels. Now it seems to me we should be putting those interests first …

Perhaps those on the other side, given that they created this mess, may take Mr O'Connor's words to heart. They also may take a leaf out of former senator Bob Carr's book, where he said:

Get out of the way and basically let the Abbott government do the job it does, which is stop the boats.