Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that the President has received the following letter, dated 26 February 2024, from Senator Scarr:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today I propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for Prime Minister Albanese to restore Operation Sovereign Borders to its original design under the former Coalition government, including re-introducing temporary protection visas, to send a clear message to people smugglers that Australia takes the protection of its borders seriously.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for Prime Minister Albanese to restore Operation Sovereign Borders to its original design under the former Coalition government, including re-introducing temporary protection visas, to send a clear message to people smugglers that Australia takes the protection of its borders seriously.

I thank my colleagues who supported discussion of this motion, including my friends on the crossbench. Thank you very much for that. I appreciate it. Why is this motion being moved, Madam Acting Deputy President?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Good question.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll take that interjection, Senator Watt. It is a good question. Why is this motion, calling upon the Prime Minister to restore Operation Sovereign Borders to its original design, being moved? There are three reasons that I rise to move this motion today. The first is the recent report of almost 40 illegal maritime arrivals reaching the mainland undetected in Western Australia's north in the last week or so. There were almost 40 undetected illegal maritime arrivals on the Australian mainland approximately one week ago.

I want to read from an ABC report in relation to this, just to give everyone listening to this debate the full flavour of what is happening here. It talks about how a local Aboriginal tourism operator discovered 13 of these arrivals, 13 men. With indulgence, I'll refer to the hospitable way in which our local Aboriginal community treated the arrivals. I'll quote from this Aboriginal tourism operator, who preferred to remain anonymous:

They all congregated at the water tap—they were really thirsty.

The report goes on:

He spent two hours with the men waiting for authorities to arrive.

They reported being dropped off in the middle of the night along the rocky shoreline of Pender Bay, and then walking in the bush for four days before being found.

And they begged him for help to get to Sydney to find work.

They begged him to help them get to Sydney to find work. That's what they asked for. The local Aboriginal tourism operator said:

Border Force have a tough job, but there does have to be more layers of surveillance in place. These guys had a success making it here, so there will probably be more turning up.

That is the first reason I raise this motion today: the concern that the Albanese Labor government is not protecting our borders.

The second reason is that we know—it is on the record—there have been at least 311 illegal maritime arrivals, potentially on 13 different vessels, in this country since Labor was elected in May 2022, so this isn't the first issue we've had since Labor was re-elected.

The third reason I rise to speak this motion is that no-one in this country wants us to return to the dark, dark days of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government, when we had thousands of illegal maritime arrivals in this country, thousands of children in detention, and a cost of billions and billions to the Australian taxpayer. That's why we're raising this issue. We're actually obliged to raise this issue on behalf of the Australian people.

Back on 26 April 2022, the Prime Minister said, 'The same policy that exists now, Operation Sovereign Borders, will apply under us.' But it doesn't. The Labor government removed one of the key pillars of Operation Sovereign Borders. I have here the document from the coalition announcing Operation Sovereign Borders, and one of the key pillars was restoration of temporary protection visas for those found to be refugees. That was one of the key pillars of Operation Sovereign Borders. It was removed by the Labor government.

The other concerning thing the Labor government has removed is budget allocations for our border security. The irrefutable fact is that maritime patrols and aerial surveillance have dropped. It isn't the fault of the Australian Border Force; it's because they aren't being adequately funded. There has been a budget cut of over $400 million over the forward estimates. There has been a 20.7 per cent decrease in aerial flying hours and a 12.2 per cent decrease in maritime patrol days. This is happening under Labor's watch. It needs to stop, and Operation Sovereign Borders needs to be reinstated.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is right: why are we in this position having this debate? Clearly, the reason we're here is because there's an attempt by the opposition to undermine our borders. There's a political opportunity, here—not an opportunity that's in the interests of the Australian public, not an opportunity that's in the interests of the Australian community, but a political opportunity to turn around and misrepresent what's actually going on.

These are the same people that turned around, on that fateful election day, the decision by the previous government, led by the member for Cook, that put at risk operational protocols to protect Operation Sovereign Borders—and they're at it again. On that particular occasion, under the direction of the former prime minister, the former home affairs minister ordered a senior military officer to issue a public statement compromising a live, military-led operation. The opposition are here asking questions not because they're concerned about the boats, or because they're concerned about protecting Operation Sovereign Borders, or because they're concerned with national security, but for no reason other than the fact that they want to create fear and division. These comments and their comments will be exploited by people smugglers. That is a disgrace. What they're creating is an environment which is untrue.

One of the great lies—one of the many lies—that the opposition have put forward is that Peter Dutton said we're cutting funding to the ABF—the Australian Border Force. Again, there is disinformation from the Leader of the Opposition, who should know better. There has been, in fact, an increase of $470 million under this government, including more than $200 million this year, as the ABF Commissioner Michael Outram said:

Border force funding is currently the highest it's been since its establishment in 2015 and in the last year the ABF has received additional funding totalling hundreds of millions of dollars, to support maritime and land-based operations.

So who should we believe? Peter Dutton, the opposition leader, and the opposition, or the ABF Commissioner? They don't like the facts, because when you go through the fact you hear more. Admiral Brett Sonter, Commander of the Joint Agency Task Force Operation Sovereign Borders, made it abundantly clear. He said:

"The mission of Operation Sovereign Borders remains the same today as it was when it was established in 2013: protect Australia's borders, combat people smuggling in our region, and importantly, prevent people from risking their lives at sea.

"Any alternate narrative—

Now, get this; this is really important—

will be exploited by criminal people smugglers to deceive potential irregular immigrants and convince them to risk their lives and travel to Australia by boat."

We had some discussion about this earlier in question time. Some people were saying that this is a fictitious argument put forward, so they're saying the admiral in charge of Operation Sovereign Borders is getting it wrong. They're saying the commissioner in charge of the Australian Border Force is getting it wrong. They have said on both occasions what has been said by the opposition leader and by those opposite: that it will result in additional people-smugglers and people being put at risk in the sea lanes of this region. The opposition leader is becoming a marketing tool for people smugglers because he is misrepresenting the facts. The ABF and the ADF have said very clearly how this is moving forward: it is the same Operation Sovereign Borders; it is very well funded; it's an expert operation run by one of the most senior naval officers in the country. We respect and are grateful for the work the ABF do to protect our borders and we back Operation Sovereign Borders. That's the reality.

When it comes to the visa question, that part of the motion shows, again, the absurdity of their argument. Unauthorised maritime arrivals—that is, people seeking to enter Australia on a boat with a passport or visa—are subject to offshore processing. That is what happened in the past and what continues to happen today. But they constantly put our borders at risk with the unfounded, inaccurate descriptions that they've been putting forward in these debates of the last week. (Time expired)

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, have a listen to this utter disgrace of a debate, these utterly disgraceful speaking points from both sides of this chamber. Let's all take a deep breath and understand what happened a couple of weeks ago. A very small number—40 people; a tiny number—of vulnerable and desperate people arrived in Australia by boat without visas in order to ask us for protection and to ask us for our assistance. And instead of our response and the ensuing national debate being about how we could actually help them, what we could do to support them—a debate that would have been in line with Australian values like generosity, compassion and decency—we have had the debate framed exclusively around this so-called massive threat to our borders and to our national security.

Those folks are not a threat to our borders and they are not a threat to our national security. The reason the debate is framed in that way is because it suits the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton. He is a political vampire who feeds on people's suffering. It's what gets him out of bed in the morning and what leads him to believe he can win the next election, if he weaponises enough migrants and enough people seeking asylum in this country.

Then, of course, the compliant media—led by News Corp but by no means exclusively News Corp—jump in, credulously report Mr Dutton's frame and suddenly you have the Labor Party trying to outdo Mr Dutton on border security. This is how we destroyed thousands of lives in offshore detention. This is how we exiled thousands of people to Manus Island and Nauru, where they were murdered, where they were raped, where their children were subjected to sexual abuse and where they were attacked by the armed forces of Papua New Guinea.

This is the race to the bottom that weaponises people seeking asylum and destroys thousands of lives. The media's complicit. The Labor Party's complicit. And it's driven by the Liberal Party, because it is their political aim to get these outcomes, not because anyone is prepared to actually take a decent step and help support vulnerable people who seek our protection.

Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this urgency motion brought to the Senate today by my colleague Senator Scarr. And it is critical that we bring this motion to the Senate today because we all know that having control over our borders is essential for the ongoing security and safety of Australia.

It is simply not good enough that people smugglers have, in recent days, exploited apparent weaknesses of our maritime border with reports of 40 illegal maritime arrivals reaching Western Australia. And what is even more concerning is that these latest groups appear to have made their way through Australian waters undetected to arrive on Australian soil. It is clear that people smugglers are once again exploiting the Labor government's weak leadership on border security. There have been more than 300 people on at least 12 boats that have arrived on Labor's watch since the 2022 election. We know that maritime patrols and aerial surveillance have dropped under Labor, as the ABF has failed to meet its targets. There was a 20.7 per cent decrease in aerial flying hours in 2022-23 compared with 2020-21, and there was a 12.2 per cent fall in maritime patrol days in 2022-23 compared with 2020-21. These facts speak for themselves. It is clear for everyone to see that there are cracks that have emerged in Australia's border security under the watch of this Labor government.

This recent maritime arrival is just the latest incident where the Albanese government has been exposed on border protection and national security. We all know that they were caught flat-footed by last year's High Court decision. As a direct consequence of the government's lack of preparedness, 140 hardcore criminals, including child sex offenders and murderers, were released into our community, and it wasn't until recently that we were able to get the full picture of the types of characters who were released. After months of sustained pressure from the coalition, at Senate estimates recently the Albanese government finally released the document that it didn't want the public to see. The government admitted that there are seven murderers, 37 sex offenders and 72 violent offenders among the 149 people the government released into the community following the High Court's decision last year. The government also admitted that seven people breached their visa conditions once they got out and that 18 people have been charged by state and territory police for various offences. Worse, the government admitted that it hadn't made a single application to lock up any of these hardcore criminals released onto the streets, despite rushing through ahead of Christmas the legislation giving them the powers to do so.

This is incredibly disappointing. I think Australians are disappointed with the efforts or lack thereof that this government has made to keep Australians safe and to keep our borders safe. Conversely, we know that the coalition has a strong track record when it comes to border protection, and the results of our border policies speak for themselves. It was the coalition government which broke the back of the people-smuggling trade that was allowed to flourish during the Rudd-Gillard years. We cannot forget that, the last time Labor was in government, more than 50,000 people arrived illegally on more than 800 boats, and there were at least 1,200 deaths at sea. It was the coalition government that restored order and stemmed the flow of illegal boat arrivals through the implementation of Operation Sovereign Borders. Like I say, the facts speak for themselves. There had not been a successful boat arrival in years under the coalition after we introduced Operation Sovereign Borders, and we ended the deaths at sea. Frankly, only the coalition can be trusted to keep Australians safe and our border secure. What we have seen in Western Australia in recent weeks demonstrates that clearly. It was the coalition's strong border policies that stopped the boats, ending both the deaths at sea and the illegal trade of people smuggling.

There is no doubt, from the opposition's point of view, that this government must act immediately to protect Australia's borders from future illegal maritime arrivals and to ensure that our community is kept safe. It is simply not good enough that we have seen instances where boats have been able to navigate through Australian waters and land on our shores undetected. People smugglers are exploiting this government's lax approach to border security, but we know that maritime patrols and aerial surveillance have dropped under this government. There have been more than 300 people on at least 12 boats who have arrived on Labor's watch since the 2022 election. We need to send a strong and clear message to people smugglers that we take the protection of our border extremely seriously, but I have very little faith that that will happen under this government.

Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of Operation Sovereign Borders. That's because Labor's incompetence has basically put out the welcome mat for the people smugglers. These smugglers are the lowest form of vermin, preying on human misery and false hope. They have noted how immigrant murderers and sex offenders are being allowed to roam freely in our community by this Labor government. They have noted Labor won't maintain the level of monitoring and surveillance necessary to deter their attacks on our borders. They are absolutely delighted that Labor has gotten rid of temporary protection visas, a critical deterrent against their foul business model.

Labor cannot be trusted with the security of our borders. Australia must return to the full model that stopped the boats. It's the only proven effective model that prevents deaths at sea. It's a model admired in many countries whose borders are being attacked by people smugglers. It should beggar belief that Labor would sacrifice the security of our borders and the safety of our community by dismantling this model. Sadly, however, it's very believable. Labor has never supported a strong border, and it was only a matter of time before the people smugglers returned. Because of the way the High Court decision has been handled and because of the release of 149 out of our prisons or detention centres, I call for Minister Giles to be sacked. He has got to go. He is hopeless as a minister and incompetent at his job. At the next election I hope the people of Australia realise that our current Prime Minister has to go also for his incompetence and for how this matter has been handled. As far as I am concerned, our security is of utmost importance for this nation and for the people of Australia.

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to the Labor Party: how dare you accuse the coalition of politicising Sovereign Borders. It was under the Labor Party that we had over a thousand deaths at sea—under the reckless Rudd government, which relaxed our border control. Over 50,000 people ended up in detention camps, and it has taken over a decade to effectively reduce those numbers. So for the Labor Party to come in here and accuse us of playing politics is sheer hypocrisy.

The other thing we should note here is that Australia actually has a very generous refugee policy. We take almost 20,000 refugees a year, on a humanitarian basis. There are certainly, if not millions, hundreds of thousands people out there around the world in refugee camps who have done the right thing and have tried to apply for a visa. When we have people smugglers smuggling people through the back door, many of whom aren't even genuine refugees—when I looked at the photos of the guys that rocked up last week, they didn't look too hungry to me. I think that this is something the Labor Party should take very seriously and not mock the fact that we actually lose control of our borders. If you look at what has happened in Europe, Africans are dying when they cross the Mediterranean from places like Libya to Italy. You get thousands of people dying at sea. So it is much better to have a strong border policy, to make sure that people don't—

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Because they're not rescued.

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That costs money, Senator McKim. It cost millions of dollars a year to have our Navy patrolling the waters, to control our borders, and we don't want to see happen here what's happening in Europe and in the southern states of USA, where there are millions of people crossing the borders, diluting the sovereign state. (Time expired)

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to read out Senator Scarr's matter of public urgency to remind those who are listening of the details:

The need for Prime Minister Albanese to restore Operation Sovereign Borders to its original design under the former Coalition government, including re-introducing temporary protection visas, to send a clear message to people smugglers that Australia takes the protection of its borders seriously

Since Prime Minister Albanese came to power, there have been at least 311 illegal maritime arrivals in Australia, who have come on at least 13 boats. At least 40 came in the last few days, reaching the mainland of Australia undetected. It shows that the people smugglers are exploiting the weakness of the Albanese government when it comes to protecting the borders of Australia. The No. 1 job of any government is to protect Australia, to protect our borders and to protect our people. When the Prime Minister is asked on live TV what he's going to do to prevent illegal immigration or how he could possibly justify his dismantling of Operation Sovereign Borders—or when he was asked about this most recent arrival, do you know what the Prime Minister said? This is what the Prime Minister of this country said. He said he is not across it because he has been in the car. What has he been doing in the car? Having a nap? Playing Grand Theft Auto?

This is a Prime Minister who has tens of thousands of public servants—departments of defence and home affairs—who clearly report in as to what is happening on our borders. Now, either they're not being resourced properly or he's not being told what's going on—or he doesn't care. So, it is either incompetence or malfeasance, or it's just a Prime Minister who's not up to the job.

People smugglers can smell weak leadership. We saw that in the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. We saw how the people smugglers exploited that weak Labor government. And we can see now how the people smugglers are exploiting this weak Labor government. It is time for someone like Peter Dutton, an ex-copper from Queensland, to become prime minister—someone who understands the importance of the safety of Australians, someone who understands, who will bring back Operation Sovereign Borders and protect Australia and make sure we can sleep safely in our beds at night. (Time expired)

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased to stand today in support of this urgency motion brought by Senator Scarr. As Senator McGrath was just outlining, this is ultimately just about the Senate calling upon the Prime Minister to get real, to get serious, to actually put his heart into Operation Sovereign Borders. We know, based on the actions, based on the budget allocations, based on what we're seeing in the operations, that this Prime Minister is not committed fully to Operation Sovereign Borders.

It really hasn't taken the Labor government too long to start failing on border security, has it? It was almost predictable form for the Labor government, and this Prime Minister, who was a senior minister in the last failed government, when it came to border security. And we're seeing now the creaks and the cracks in the doors that are starting to open because this government doesn't take it seriously. Their heart is not in it. Their heart is not in Operation Sovereign Borders. Otherwise we wouldn't see the cuts that are there—to budget, to flights, to surveillance.

In my home state of Western Australia—and it's good to see Senator Smith here—we know that our state of course is a very large state and the coastline is enormous. And the Prime Minister should know, because whenever he flies across to Western Australia, in his Airbus, he knows he has to travel for a very long time, and then when he refuels his plane and heads on up north he knows , when he looks out the window, that it's a long time, that several hours go by. As he looks out the right-hand side of his Airbus, he'll see that he's still got the Western Australian coast on his wing, because it is a very long coastline. Therefore, it requires a significant investment in surveillance, in air-flight hours, to survey the area.

But because of the reduction in budget, because of the reduction in operational hours for those flights that are going up and down there, we've seen some arrivals, and this Prime Minister is the only one who is to blame. Prime Minister Albanese's heart is not in Operation Sovereign Borders. The Albanese government dismantled the coalition's Operation Sovereign Borders after the 2022 election by removing the temporary protection visas. That's what they did: they removed them.

And just recently, on 16 February, in our home state of Western Australia, in the northern Kimberley, we saw illegal boat arrivals simply land onshore and begin wandering around the town site of Beagle Bay. Now, I commend the community of Beagle Bay. They made sure these arrivals were watered, fed and cared for while the police were called to come, and it took some time before they arrived. They did what they needed to do as good citizens, but the government didn't do what it needed to do to ensure that there was surveillance to make sure that that boat never arrived on that shore. And we don't know the character of the people or what could have happened if people who had malfeasance in mind had arrived. That community was unprotected. It's a beautiful part of the world, but it is a serious issue.

But it is hardly surprising that this government is failing in this area. Maritime patrols and aerial surveillance have dropped under this government's watch. These are the hours that I'm talking about here. There was a 20.7 per cent decrease in aerial flying hours in 2022-23 compared to that of the previous year and a 12.2 per cent fall in maritime patrol days in 2022-23 compared to the previous year. The people on the other side stand up here in this place and say: 'There's no change. It's all the same. It's exactly as the previous government was doing.' But your data doesn't back that up. The evidence is clear. It's a big coastline, as I pointed out. You need aircraft to fly over it. You need boats out there to go past it because it's so easy. It shouldn't be easy if you're committed to it, but, because your heart's not in it, it seems like it's a sieve that's leaking. You've got to get serious, government, because it actually matters to Australian security.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the urgency motion moved by Senator Scarr be agreed to.