Border protection a national priority of the highest order

December 12, 2011

The barrage of illegal boats streaming into Australia’s northern waters should be deeply concerning to us all.

And the blame for this mess lies squarely at the feet of the Australian Labor Party.

By trashing and then failing to implement a viable policy alternative to the Howard Government’s successful Pacific Solution, the Gillard Government has undermined our sovereign right to decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.

Rather than embrace the proven policies of the Coalition, Julia Gillard’s latest capitulation to the Greens has seen her remove the final brick in the wall of the Howard Government’s border protection regime – mandatory detention of illegal boat arrivals.

The mandatory detention of all unauthorized arrivals was introduced by the Labor Party in 1992 and has received bipartisan support ever since. It has proven to be an essential measure in the control over our borders and the security of this country.

Labor under Gillard has returned Australia to the pre-Tampa policy of granting illegal arrivals the same status and rights of endless appeal as onshore asylum applicants and now wants to almost double our intake of refugees, at a cost of more than $1.35 billion over 4 years to the taxpayer so far.

By allowing nearly 5,000 illegal boat arrivals to live freely amongst communities in NSW and across Australia while their applications are being processed, the Government has breathed new life into the people smuggling trade at the expense of legitimate refugees languishing in camps for up 15 years to come here.

Now people smugglers will cram more people onto boats for the perilous journey to Australia at the most dangerous time of the year. Over 900 people came to Australia illegally by boat – the largest number to arrive in a single month for a decade - in November this year alone.

The Canberra Times recently revealed that prior to the Howard Government’s Pacific Solution in 2001, the Immigration Department put the number of people who were preparing to come to Australia illegally by boat at about 100,000 a year – which is about the same as currently arrive seeking settlement in the United States each year.

The article in the Times detailed the Department’s strong advice that without a deterrent in the form of offshore processing, our detention facilities, and indeed community willingness to house new arrivals, would quickly collapse under the weight of vast numbers arriving by boat.

The Canberra Times article goes on, “Within a year the arrivals would swamp detention centres and inevitably overflow into the Australian community, giving rise to cultural friction and social riots such as has been seen in Europe.”

The sad fact is that there is almost no limit to the number of people who would be prepared to come to our shores seeking either refuge from some form of persecution, or let’s be frank, for the chance of a better life.  According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) website there are 10.4 million refugees in camps all around the world – all of whom are hoping to be settled somewhere.

When the Howard Government made the difficult decision to take this issue head on, the advice was that some 100,000 asylum seekers were poised to make the voyage from our near neighbours.

Do those people of goodwill who advocate an open door truly understand what they are asking for?

Leaving aside the risks associated with encouraging people to travel on unseaworthy boats (illustrated with heart rending clarity by the recent Christmas Island tragedy); if the bleeding hearts had their wish within a few short years our immigration system would be overwhelmed. 

The new illegal arrivals simply would not be able to be accommodated in our communities.

They would become second class citizens – many would be dumped in our towns and cities bringing with them all manner of social unrest and crime foreign to Australian culture.  Our finances and departments could not possibly manage the cost of the legal appeals to every removal decision.

It is my view that our cohesive society, with many cultures from different countries by and large blended together, would become something far more frightening; particularly for future generations as was highlighted in the Canberra Times.

Securing and protecting our borders should remain a national priority of the highest order.

Only the Coalition has the will and proven policies needed to restore order to our borders and maintain our long established cohesive society.

The Coalition in government will get our borders back under control and restore confidence in Australia’s immigration program lost so irresponsibly under this failed Government.