Senator CASH (4:43 PM) —Senator Sterle said that today’s matter of public importance on the inability of the Rudd Labor government to protect Australia’s border security is a waste of time. Senator Sterle sees it as a waste of time discussing Australia’s border security. Senator Sterle, I will remind you that all serious policymakers—and you will certainly never be mistaken as one—know that a fundamental responsibility of a federal government is to ensure the security of its nation. Therefore, ensuring that Australia’s borders are properly protected is a fundamental responsibility of the current government. It is a fundamental responsibility which Labor is failing at. However, what the current government is very, very good at is spin over substance. How do we know that? Last week, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, in answer to a question without notice regarding whether Rudd Labor’s new border protection policies were actually working, said yes. The minister’s answer was:

With the evidence that is now before us in relation to the increase in unlawful arrivals, that answer demonstrates to all Australians just how out of touch with reality the Labor government is. I ask as part of this debate today: which part of ‘Labor has gone soft on border protection’ doesn’t the minister understand? Which part of ‘Labor is unable to manage Australia’s border security’ does the minister just not get? Is it the part where the evidence shows that Labor’s softer border protection measures have given the green light to people smugglers? Maybe it is the fact that, as at 13 September 2009, 31 new boats and 1,456 new asylum seekers have attempted to enter Australia illegally since August 2008. What is the minister’s response to this in question time? He pathetically tries to make light of the fact that the opposition has called for an urgent inquiry into the effect of the government’s immigration policies on people-smuggling. This is what the minister said:

The only task at hand that the Labor government is committed to is to systematically and deliberately unravel the suite of measures that the Howard government put in place over time that collectively gave Australia strong border protection.

Why has the coalition called for an urgent inquiry? Because, based on last week’s rate of unlawful arrivals, we could see between 8,000 and 10,000 people attempting to enter Australia unlawfully in one year.

Senator Sterle interjecting—

Senator CASH —Senator Sterle laughs at those figures, but those people are being exploited by the people smugglers to whom you, with your policies, have given the green light, and that is absolutely shameful. The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship last Thursday during question time also said that boat arrivals are ‘an ongoing problem for Australia’. Without doubt, on that point he is correct.

I will get to Mr Rudd’s evidence based policy shortly, but let us get the facts straight. The increase in the number of unlawful arrivals is only a problem for Australians because of the Labor government’s soft border protection policies. The facts speak for themselves. Under the Howard government Australia sent a strong, consistent message to people smugglers: our doors are closed to unlawful people. The weakening, though, of the immigration policy by the Labor government has encouraged the biggest surge in people-smuggling since 2001 and 2002. In fact, after the Howard government put in place strong border protection measures, how many boats arrived in Australia between 2002-03 and 2004-05? None.

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship raised an interesting statistic yesterday. He said, ‘But hold on, we need to look back at the figures from 2001 and 2002, when we had some 4,137 people arrive illegally here in the first year and 1,212 in the second year,’ and the minister is right. But, based on that evidence—because we know the Labor Party love evidence based policy—the Howard government took steps to put in place policies that would ensure that people smugglers were not able to ply their despicable trade. What did we have as a result of the strong policies implemented by the Howard government? The number of people trying to come here unlawfully went down to zero.

Unlike Senator Sterle, unlike the Labor Party, the Howard government recognised that the most fundamental responsibility of a federal government is to ensure the security of the nation and its people, and it took effective steps to ensure that it discharged its responsibility. Mr Rudd keeps telling the Australian people he is committed to evidence based policy. Well, Mr Rudd, here is some evidence for you in relation to the unlawful arrivals into Australian waters and onshore since your Labor government was elected. Thirty-one boats have been intercepted. I have here pages and pages setting out the number of people who have arrived in this country unlawfully. If you want evidence, there it is, and the evidence supports your inability to manage Australia’s border security. (Time expired)

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Troeth)—Order! The time for discussion has concluded.