Mr HAASE (2:57 PM) —My question is addressed to the Minister for Defence. Would the minister inform the House of Defence Force contributions to the Coastwatch program? What alternative proposals exist in this area?

Mr REITH (Minister for Defence) —I thank the member for Kalgoorlie for his question. The Coastwatch organisation today has available to it 1,800 sea days a year provided by Royal Australian Navy patrol boats, and it also has available to it 250 hours of Orion aircraft managed and operated by the Royal Australian Air Force. I want to compliment those members of the Australian Defence Force on the fantastic job that they do. I think it ought to be publicly recognised that they operate at the highest professional standards.

Dr Martin —Correct.

Mr REITH —If it is correct, Mr Speaker, as is interjected by the opposition, why is it that the Leader of the Opposition was out over the weekend, basically canning the efforts of Coastwatch, which is today bulwarked by the workers of the Australian Defence Force?

Dr Martin —I can't help myself.

Mr REITH —I note what the interjector says. This is the comment of the Leader of the Opposition when talking about the effectiveness of the existing operations: `There are a lot of people entering this country illegally who don't get caught.' The detection rate is 98.6 per cent. In the face of a 98.6 per cent detection rate, the Leader of the Opposition uses that as his excuse, as his reason, for proposing the alternative coast guard operation. What the Leader of the Opposition does not tell you is that, when he was the defence minister, he examined this issue and concluded that a coastguard would not be more effective; that it would be less effective, but at an additional cost of $2 billion.

I note that a parliamentary committee have taken some public evidence on what is the most efficient way of managing this issue. They heard from former commissioners of the Australian Federal Police, and the current head of Customs said:

In other words, when you look behind the populist language of the Leader of the Opposition, you find that in the past he has opposed that which he is now proposing. He today proposes a coast guard which would cost $2 billion, on his own calculations, for a system which would be less effective than that which operates now. This is the worst case possible of opposition populism, out there attacking those Australians in the Australian Defence Force who are doing an excellent job—the figures support that—using their good efforts. We say that this coastguard proposition is a complete furphy and ought to be rejected—and it is.