Scott Morrison : All Content Updates

Media Release : Labor's 'granny flat' solution is desperate and reckless

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Labor’s latest decision to house single adult male asylum seekers released on bridging visas in the spare rooms of Australian families under the Homestay program is a desperate and reckless policy from a government that has lost control of our borders, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison said today.

“The fact that Australian families are now being asked to house asylum seekers who have arrived illegally by boat, including those whose claims have been rejected, shows just how desperate Labor have become over their failed border protection policies, which have seen almost 17,000 people now arrive on 302 boats,” Mr Morrison said.

“Homestay was designed to provide accommodation to international students who arrive legally with valid visas and study arrangements. It was not designed for single males who arrive on illegal boats, without documentation and are working their way through the taxpayer funded appeals process after having their asylum claims rejected.

“We have already seen in the detention network, including on the suburban streets of Melbourne in community detention, what can happen when asylum seekers do not get the answer they are looking for. Riots, protests, self harm, destruction of property, escapes, sexual assault and assault have all occurred, with charges being laid in some circumstances.

“To place asylum seekers in suburban homes and communities, where there is no consultation with neighbours or the police and just a hotline to call if something goes wrong has all the ingredients of another Labor asylum disaster in the making.

“The sheer scale of Labor's border protection failures has forced them to now effectively deputise suburban householders as Serco officers.

“At the last election Julia Gillard wanted to send asylum seekers to East Timor and then to Malaysia. Now she wants to send them to your granny flat out the back.

“When Australians expressed concern about rising costs of living, this was not an invitation for Julia Gillard to supplement household incomes by offering to pay the rent on your spare room or granny flat for asylum seekers.

“Rather than implement the Coalition’s proven border protection policies to stop the boats, Labor has done the opposite, announcing a 'let them in, let them out' policy for illegal boat arrivals that is only providing another reason for people to get on boats.

“They are now asking Australians to take Labor's border protection failures into their homes. Labor’s failure on our borders has become worse with every decision they have taken,” Mr Morrison said.

*** e-mail sent to Homestay subscribers and Homestay FAQ attached ***

Media Release : Reports of immigration fraud demand answers from Minister Bowen

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Reports of immigration fraud of the family reunion and humanitarian programme revealed on the ABC's 7.30 Report demand clear answers and explanations from Immigration Minister Bowen, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison said today.

“Reports of fraudulent visa applications, including for children, refugees and carers from Islamabad were acknowledged by Department officials in the report. In addition, even where abuses are being picked up by immigration officers, decisions are being overturned by the Government's over generous Migration Review Tribunal in Australia,” Mr Morrison said.

“Once again, the job of explaining these alleged abuses and fraud, and yet another Labor failure in immigration, was left to the Minister's bureaucrats, rather than the Minister himself,” he said.

“If the Government is aware of the problem as Department officials claim, the Minister will be able to answer the following questions:

How many visas involving the mission in Islamabad have been cancelled or refused because of fraud?

How many of these family reunion applications have involved sponsors in Australia who have arrived by boat as Irregular Maritime Arrivals?

How many applications have been reviewed as a result of the discovery of fraud and abuse on other applications?

What grade of risk has been assigned to the post as a result of any audits undertaken, and whether any audits have been undertaken and how many convictions have been recorded.

In relation to the migration of children, whether the Minister is now demanding additional identity checks to be undertaken to prove a family relationship, including DNA testing, and if not, why not?

How many cases have been referred to the Australian Federal Police for further investigation, how many charges have been laid, how many prosecutions have been undertaken and how many convictions have been recorded?

Given the applications will involve sponsors already in Australia on visas, what action has the Minister initiated to review and potentially cancel visas for those believed to be participating in these frauds?

Given that some of these cases allegedly involve matters that have gone before the Migration Review Tribunal, how many of these cases and the individuals involved in these applications that were the subject of these cases are now being reopened and investigated?

What integrity reviews has the Minister initiated into practices and staff in Islamabad and what changes have been initiated to procedures?

Why the Minister has not chosen to suspend assessment of applications from Islamabad while the risk of frauds and abuse may be unacceptably high

“These are just some of the issues the Minister for Immigration must be able to answer in relation to the allegations reported on the ABC's 7.30 program, if we are to have confidence that appropriate action is being taken in relation to these alleged abuses.

“Public confidence in the Gillard Government's ability to run our immigration program is already at rock bottom. Minister Bowen must front up to answer the serious questions that are raised by these reports of fraud and abuse.

“Failure to demonstrate that the Government has already taken substantive action on these issues will be yet further evidence of why Labor can't be trusted on immigration,” Mr Morrison said.

Speech : Transcript - 6PR Mornings

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - 6PR Mornings

Thursday 3rd May 2012

SUBJECT: Labor’s desperate and reckless ‘spare room’ asylum policy

EandOE

ROB BROADFIELD
Scott Morrison has described the policy as desperate and reckless and he joins us now. Scott Morrison, welcome to the program.

MORRISON:
G’day Rob.

BROADFIELD:
Desperate and reckless or an elegant solution to an overcrowding problem?

MORRISON:
It is desperate and reckless because under this government’s failed border protection policies 302 boats have turned up carrying almost 17,000 people. That’s why we are even considering this option now. Before the election Julia Gillard said she wanted to send asylum seekers to East Timor, that failed then she said she wanted to send them to Malaysia well now she wants to send them to the granny flat out the back. It just shows how pathetically failed the government’s policy has now become. This scheme is used to house international students studying in Australia, people from Indonesia studying engineering or something like that. It is designed for that type of outcome, not designed for single males who have already had their asylum claims at least rejected once and are now appealing their claims through the system and put into the community. Since the government announced that policy alone last November we have had an absolute surge of arrivals which has eclipsed even what we have already seen under this government.

BROADFIELD:
Mr Morrison the issues of the asylum seeker or the failure of asylum seeker policy of not, on this specific issue Australians are pretty generous people and don’t mind helping someone in need. What is wrong with them offering the back room to someone who may need it under these sort of circumstances. We are a pretty welcoming country aren’t we?

MORRISON:
Well we are but the only reason this is being required or being considered is because the failure of border protection and the other point I have to make is this – these individuals have a very different profile of risk in terms of those who are normally taken under the Homestay program. In Melbourne late last year we had the situation in community detention where four young people living not in detention centres but in a suburban home in suburban Melbourne when they got news that they didn’t like from the Immigration Department they got on the roof, they cut themselves, the police had to be called and this happened in suburban Melbourne.

BROADFIELD:
But these people are on bridging visas aren’t they, by definition isn’t a bridging visa, halfway towards them becoming…

MORRISON:
No it’s not at all. The reason people are on bridging visas is because the government’s detention centres have overflowed and they have failed to have policies that actually stopped the problem in the first place. These are individuals who in the large part have already had their initial claim rejected. So they have already had a no once and they are already going through the appeals process where they may well get another no. We have found whether in the detention system or out in the community when people get an answer they don’t like there is a risk. Now I am not saying that this will happen in every case but it only has to happen once Rob. That is a risk that I don’t think the government has really fully though through and anyone who is thinking of taking this on should obviously think very carefully because I don’t think the government has.

BROADFIELD:
Mr Morrison, with due respect, this is pretty much dogwhistle politicking isn’t it?

MORRISON:
No I reject that. I absolutely reject it. Every time I have raised concerns about the polices of the government in relation to this someone will come out and call me a racist or xenophobe or something like that. Well I think the Australian people have had an absolute gutful of that Rob. This government has stuffed the policy on our borders and now has been forced into the situation of asking Australians to get involved to rent out the granny flat to deal with Julia Gillard’s mistake. They need to front up to that failure and accept it and need to put back the polices that worked.

BROADFIELD:
The curious angle out of all of this is that in making this announcement today…

MORRISON:
Well they didn’t announce it, we had to expose it Rob. They didn’t tell anyone Rob. We had to expose it and we have.

BROADFIELD:
And it is very damning in a political sense isn’t it? The government can’t win with something like this being front page headlines is it?

MORRISON:
Well they can’t win because they keep failing on policy. This is a desperate policy that has been entered into because of the failures of their existing policies. It just goes from bad to worse under this government. I do not have a beef with any of the individuals. I have a beef with the government that has put polices in place that has led to this mess and they keep making bad decisions. They won’t front up to them and they just allow it to keep getting worse.

BROADFIELD:
Were you in the position to do something about it, what would be your solution?

MORRISON:
Well the first thing I would do is re-open Nauru. I would reintroduce temporary protection visas and restore the policy of turning boats back where it is safe to do so. I would put in polices where people knowingly discarding their documentation we would be presuming against the refugee status and there is a host of other policies we have outlined time and time again. This government has refused to do all of those Rob and as a result now they are looking at bringing their border failures to somebody’s granny flat.

BROADFIELD:
Good on you. Scott Morrison, the Opposition’s Immigration spokesman.

END

Speech : Transcript - 2UE Breakfast Show

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - 2UE Breakfast Show

Thursday 3rd May 2012

SUBJECTS: Labor’s desperate and reckless ‘spare room’ asylum policy

E and OE

JASON MORRISON:
We have lost our way, haven’t we? We now have decided that really people smuggling should be legitimised and that Australians should be the recipients of part of this now legitimate practise because Australians can get in on the deal as well. You don’t have to buy a boat, you just have to have a few spare beds in your house. The Australian government seriously is floating a proposition to say if you’ve got some spare room at your place, we would like to rent your bed because we’ve got some refugees we’d like to house. And by the way, some of them may not be refugees, some of them may be people we haven’t been one hundred percent sure of their story but what we’ll do is we’ll lease them out and give you a bit of money for it but we’ll do a security check on you first to make sure you’re alright. This is how ludicrous this has come. That thousands of Australian homes may be turned into boarding houses because the mob in Canberra lack the backbone to stop the problem at its source. We’ve never had immigration centres as full as they are. We’ve had more than 2,200 people arrive in this country to date since the start of the calendar year. That’s double this time last year and the solution isn’t let’s go and stop them from coming here, the solution is we’ll just pay people to rent out their rooms. Absolutely inverted and perverted logic. Scott Morrison is the Shadow Immigration Minister. He’s with me this morning. What next?

SCOTT MORRISON:
Well that’s a good question, Jason. This is how ludicrous it’s become. I remember several years ago making the point that it’ll get to the stage where the government will ask you to rent out your back room – well that’s where we’ve got to.

JASON MORRISON:
Yeah it was a joke six months ago.

SCOTT MORRISON:
Well it was, I mean before the last election, Julia Gillard said we’ll send asylum seekers to East Timor. We all know how that ended. Then there was Malaysia. Now she says it’s your granny flat – that’s where they’re going and it just shows how bizarre and pathetic this whole situation has become and it continues to get worse as you have said. The boats are coming at a much faster rate this year and the period that you just compared it to was not some period involved in the Malaysian solution where the government said they had the problem licked, it’s double what it was before the Malaysia solution was announced. At the beginning of last year, things had quietened a bit. It had nothing to do with Malaysia or anything like that and now we’re seeing it completely out of control and now we want Australian families to be deputised as Serco officers.

JASON MORRISON:
The mathematics of this is insulting as well. You know it’s impossible to get the numbers out of this mob as to in fact how much we are paying. But I did the maths this morning and it’s somewhere between about $80-90 000 per person who ends up in detention that it costs Australia, would you agree with that figure?

SCOTT MORRISON:
Yeah I would.

JASON MORRISON:
OK so for 90 days which is what they say typically is the stay in detention, they’ll pay Serco, international corporation, $90,000 per person.

SCOTT MORRISON:
The stay would be longer than that Jason.

JASON MORRISON:
OK but let’s just keep the numbers easy. So 90, divided by 90,000, a $1000 a day. They’ll give you $300 a week to rent out your spare room. I mean, apart from the insult that it’s public money anyway, that’s sort of where their head is.

SCOTT MORRISON:
That’s right and we wouldn’t be having this conversation as we all know had the Government not been so stubborn and got over their pride and just put back the measures they abolished and still refuse to this day to put in place but the other portion I highlight is this Jason - I think this is also bad policy. We’re not talking about accommodating Indonesian students studying accounting at tech college or indeed a university. What we’re talking about here are people who haven’t been found to be refugees. In the vast majority of cases, they’ll be people who’ve already had their initial claim rejected and they’ll be going through the appeals process and ultimately the court system, given what this government has allowed through the courts. Now late last year we saw in Melbourne a very disturbing event where four asylum seekers who were in community detention, not a detention centre, got up on a roof, they self harmed, they cut themselves after they got bad news from the immigration department and these are serious cases we have to be mindful of. Now I’m not saying every case will be like that but this is a risk that I don’t think should have to be taken and the only reason they’re taking it is because they’ve stuffed this up so badly.

JASON MORRISON:
It’s the old patchwork bandaid solution for everything. The families – for every family that decides – I love the way they use the word family to make this sound every nicer - every family that decides to take people on will be trained, will be security checked I mean there is a few thousand dollars to do all of that and don’t worry, they’ll only be there for a 6 week maximum because we’ll move them on then and the rest of the sentence is into paid public housing and then there’ll be another group of people that might be available to do it. This is a serious offer, do they not read the tea leaves as to where Australians heads are on this issue?

SCOTT MORRISON:
Well I think not just on this issue but on so many issues. When Australian families said they had concerns about rising costs of living, I don’t think they thought the response should be for Julia Gillard to rent out your backroom to solve her border protection failures.

JASON MORRISON:
It’s the new stimulus package.

SCOTT MORRISON:
Well yeah it’s some sort of Homestay revolution or something.

JASON MORRISON:
Yes the Rockdale Mattress Factory – right today we’ll be getting orders from everyone saying we’re ready to go, we’ve got some space. A bloke’s jokingly sent me an email this morning who has a small warehouse it’s been empty for three months because people aren’t renting, saying if I put beds in that will I be eligible? I mean that’s the mad and insulting dimension of it.

SCOTT MORRISON:
Maybe he will, as I say we joke about it today but it’s probably going to be government policy in six weeks.

JASON MORRISON:
You never know. I’m taking from all this that it won’t be happening if you get in?

SCOTT MORRISON:
Well one of the problems we’re going to have Jason is if we’re elected at the next election, we’re going to have thousands upon thousands of people in this system who are already here, who already have access to the courts and what I’ve flagged today is I have very big reservations about this, very big reservations so it could be a year and a half before now and the next election and I’ll want to see how this program has worked out in practise and I’m very worried about what’s going to happen in people’s houses. Where’s the – is their consultation with neighbours?

JASON MORRISON:
Well that’s it, I mean I didn’t necessarily expect to have moving in next door to me if that’s what happens someone who’s just left an area of genocide. That may sound like I’m a heartless bastard but you know, you make choices about where you live and they are choices you make and I would think these are real social issues - we’re transferring them further and further into the Australian community. Thanks for talking to me this morning.

SCOTT MORRISON:
Thanks Jason.

JASON MORRISON:
Scott Morrison, the Shadow Immigration Minister.

Ends

Speech : Doorstop interview

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Doorstop interview

Thursday 3rd May 2012

SUBJECTS: Labor’s desperate and reckless ‘spare room’ asylum policy, reports of immigration fraud demand answers from Minister Bowen, Peter Slipper

E and OE

MORRISON:
Before the last election, Julia Gillard said she was going to send asylum seekers to East Timor. That ended in failure. Then she said she’d send them to Malaysia. That ended in failure. Her next plan is to send them to the granny flat in the back of suburban households all across Australia. This is a government who’s been driving to this desperate measure by successive policy failures that they continue to refuse to acknowledge. When Australians have expressed concerns about costs of living, I don’t think the answer they were looking for was for the Gillard Government to subcontract out their border protection crisis to pay out rent for people’s spare rooms for asylum seekers. Now this I think just demonstrates yet again the desperation and the failure that we’ve seen from the government. This is a program that was designed to house international students – students studying engineering or accounting or something like that from Indonesia or Malaysia or Thailand or something of that nature. It was not designed to accommodate single male asylum seekers who in the vast majority of cases would have already had their initial asylum application rejected and are moving through the appeals and the court system. There is a very different risk profile that attaches to these individuals as opposed to those who are just simply studying in Australia.

I think the risks here have not been clearly understood by the Government or they have simply been ignored out of their sense of sheer desperation. Since the community release and bridging visa policy was announced by the government late last November, we have had another surge in illegal boat arrivals. We’ve had the two biggest months on record under this government, including almost 1,000 people in April. So what we see here is a further round of failure – a further round of policy failure and a government that continues to refuse to restore the proven policies of the Coalition.

The other matter I wanted to raise today was the report on 7.30 last night regarding immigration fraud and abuses, principally relating to our mission in Islamabad and the claims by the government that they are aware of these cases. If the Government is truly aware of what’s going in Islamabad and the applications that are being made, then I’d like to know how many matters have been referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation? How many prosecutions are pending? How many visas have been refused? How many visas have been cancelled? How many of these applications relate to people who are already in Australia seeking a reunion of so-called family members and if that’s the case, and fraud has been established, why haven’t their visas been cancelled? I think what we see here, as we saw last night, is a Minister putting a public official out at the end of a stick to try and explain yet another Labor immigration failure. Minister Bowen when he returns to Australia needs to explain not what he proposes to do but what he has already and should’ve already done and if the answer to that is nothing, then all we can say about that is the reason we’ve had whistleblowers come out in immigration once again is because they’re fed up with the approach of this government to dealing with these serious immigration issues, both on our borders, in our posts, which has seen I think the Australian people lose trust and confidence absolutely in this government’s ability to run a successful program with integrity.

QUESTION:
I watched the program too, you’ll remember that one of the people who worked for the Immigration Department said that people who are perpetrating these kinds of frauds just move onto whatever is the visa fraud de jour as they said, can you confidently say that under a Coalition government we won’t see this kind of fraud continue?

MORRISON:
Well what I can say is that under a Coalition government, if we’re aware of frauds and abuses taking place, we’ll take action. The Minister needs to explain why as yet he has chosen not to suspend the assessment of applications coming through Islamabad. He may have good reasons for doing that, he may not have even considered it, he may have done absolutely nothing to this stage which is my suspicion, given this Minister’s track record on these issues. These challenges present themselves in immigration but the real test of an Immigration Minister is what they actually do to address them when and if they occur and so far to date, we’ve heard nothing from this Minister. If there are serious issues happening and they are acknowledged, then I would’ve thought that the AFP would’ve already had matters referred to them and there would be investigations underway, there would be prosecutions pending, the Minister would be able to say how many visas have been rejected, how many have been refused. This also goes to matters that have been before the Migration Review Tribunal. Now we heard last night that matters that immigration officials believed involved fraud and abuse were actually being accepted in the Migration Review Tribunal. Now if that’s what the Department believes then there should be investigations into the individuals bringing the appeals, there should be a review of their visa status. None of this appears to be taking place and certainly nothing the Minister is prepared to front up and explain to the Australian people on.

QUESTION:
On the government policy that was announced today, they’re pushing the line that this is a temporary measure. Given what we’ve seen in the past with the influx of boat arrivals, are you confident that this would only be a six week period or are we going to see this for a lot longer?

MORRISON:
I’m not confident about anything this Government does on immigration. I mean, they said the Scherger Detention centre was – first, not going to exist before the last election, then it was open, then it was temporary and it’s still open today. This is a Government whose temporary solutions turn out to be permanent failures and they just continue day after day. The asylum stay policy that they’ve now announced I think has very real issues associated with it and I don’t think the Government has really once again thought this through, they’re just stuck in a whirling crisis and grasping at anything that pops up.

QUESTION:
Are there any particular dangers associated with this policy?

MORRISON:
Well I’ve highlighted that the risk profile of those who’d be subject to these policies in Homestay are very different from the international student profile that normally engages these services and the other real problem and challenge here is those who are arriving by boat we know nothing about. Their profile, their identity; these are issues that are substantively unknown and cannot be determined so my advice to Australians considering this is consider it very, very carefully because you can’t be confident that this Government has considered these matters carefully at all.

QUESTION:
Although these are people who’ve been cleared for release into the community, surely if we’re happy for them stay in a hotel in the Government’s pocket, we’re happy to have them stay in our home?

MORRISON:
Well this is a matter that I think individual Australians have to carefully consider but as I said, late last year we had the situation with four people approved for community release who got on top of a roof in a home in suburban Melbourne, they cut themselves, they threatened to throw themselves off, police had to attend the scene, families were stuck on the cul de sac looking up thinking ‘what on earth is going on here?’ Now these things can happen and I think Australians need to be very careful about their involvement in this program because I don’t think the Government is being careful about it, I think they’ve been driven to this out of sheer policy failure desperation in immigration yet again.

QUESTION:
Have you, just on another matter, had any chat with Christopher Pyne lately and the [inaudible] Peter Slipper affair and involvement with James Ashby?

MORRISON:
I think that’s just another government conspiracy which they’ve set up as a diversion to distract Australians from the real issue here and that is the stench that is literally reeking from this Government on a daily basis. It’s the stench of scandal, it’s the stench of failed policy, it’s the stench of deceit and it’s the stench of untrustworthiness of a Government that is simply well past its use-by date.

Ends

Speech : Transcript - 2GB Ray Hadley Show

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - 2GB Ray Hadley Show

Thursday 3rd May 2012

SUBJECTS: Labor’s desperate and reckless ‘spare room’ asylum policy, reports of immigration fraud demand answers from Minister Bowen

E and OE

HADLEY:
Scott Morrison is in the studio with me right now.

MORRISON:
G’day Ray.

HADLEY:
How are you?

MORRISON:
Well.

HADLEY:
Could you quite grasp all of this when it came to your attention?

MORRISON:
Well some years ago we literally joked that after the Prime Minister was saying that she was going to send them to East Timor and then she was going to send them to Malaysia that she’d eventually have to send them to your backroom in your granny flat. Well that’s happened. I mean, it’s not a joke it’s actually reality but it does highlight the joke of the government’s border protection failures that that’s the situation we’re now in.

HADLEY:
Ok I’ll get to the story on the 7.30 report about a different type of person coming to our country but there is – they’re linked. They’re linked and you heard from Marion Le as you were coming into the studio where she would normally be someone who would be on the opposite side of the fence to perhaps me and you over these issues but she’s making the point from the 7.30 Report last night where people who are purporting to be Afghans arrive here and are really Pakistanis that we can’t have people here when we don’t know who they are. Now given that these people that are being put in these Homestay Network, Australian Homestay network homes, throw their documents overboard once they board the ship in Indonesia, do we really 100 percent know who they are and should Australian families put their homes at risk by inviting these people into their homes when we don’t specifically know who they are? They might be the best people in Afghanistan/Iraq/Iran or Pakistan, we don’t know but we don’t know, do we?

MORRISON:
We don’t know. Four out of five people who come on boats don’t have any documentation. Many of those would have actually thrown it away, some wouldn’t have had it for other reasons and I think this is one of the real concerns about moving to this step. We don’t know who is coming under these arrangements, despite what checks the government says it might undertake. We’re not talking about Indonesian students studying accounting at university or some other college here, which is what this program – this Homestay program – is designed for. We’re talking about single male asylum seekers who’ve come by boat whose claim in most cases has already been rejected once, it may well have been rejected because we had very little clue about their identity in the first place and they’re now going through the tax-payer funded extensive appeals system. Now last year in Melbourne we saw an instance where four young asylum seekers who were staying in community detention, not in the detention network formally, got up on a roof after they got some bad news from the immigration department, committed acts of self-harm and police were called to a Melbourne suburb. Now I’m not saying this would happen in every case but it is certainly a genuine risk.

HADLEY:
Is it being sold to these people who are part of the Australian Homestay Network that you’re getting – you know, the nuclear family, mum dad and a couple of kids? Now that would be impossible, given that the great percentage of people arriving here on those boats are adult males.

MORRISON:
And that’s who’s going into Homestay. It’s not families going into Homestay, they go into community detention and we talked about that some time ago with the start-up packages of $10,000 and all of that. This is another program. This is the granny flat program that Julia Gillard is pushing on the Australian public now and there’s no suggestion in the documents that we’ve obtained under this that the police are involved in the decision, there’s no requirement to consult with your neighbours or anything like this. Australian families have got cost of living pressures, Ray, but I don’t think the answer is for Julia Gillard to rent the backroom out to pay for asylum seeker failures.

HADLEY:
See and they don’t read the electorate really well because every email I’m getting, and there are dozens of them pouring in as you came on air, are saying basically the same thing as Ken said earlier – what about the homeless people? What about the disaffected Australians who are already here, who are living in the most dire circumstances, what about the young mothers who are living in the back of a car with their children because they’ve been deserted by a husband and they can’t get accommodation from the state?

MORRISON:
Well the community detention and community release – the ‘let them in, let them out’ policy that the government announced last November is obviously a massive pull factor for people to get on boats but the other problem with it is Ray that they are now directly competing for the resources of accommodation and various other services in the community that are very much needed. It’s the Red Cross who are actually arranging this – now the Red Cross I think has a pretty important job to do more broadly in our community and this is a diversion of resources and it all happens because 17,000 people turned up on 302 boats.

HADLEY:
OK. I’ve got the letter in front of me that’s been sent to some of these families who’ve already listed themselves to be a Homestay offerer but not for these people, for students as you’ve said. The Community Placement Network – the CPN – is the initiative of the Australian Homestay Network in collaboration with the Red Cross, which you say, to make short term homestay accommodation accessible to asylum seekers exiting immigration detention on a bridging visa. CPN offers interested people the opportunity to host an eligible asylum seeker in their home for a six week period. What happens after six weeks? Does someone manufacture a house somewhere that no one knows about and they mysteriously disappear from the billeted situation to a home? That doesn’t work.

MORRISON:
They’ve got no idea and given we’re got 200 people extra arriving a month on what the government was already predicting, we will see this go from six weeks to three months and onwards and onwards.

HADLEY:
So in other words, the six weeks is a sweetener to say they’ll only be there for six weeks, try getting them out.

MORRISON:
Well they’ve said in there that if something goes wrong and I’ve talked about some of the things that can go wrong and it usually happens when they get a bad decision out of the system, you can call a helpline. There’s a 1800 number or whatever it is they can call. Now that will be a fat lot of good if you’ve got a serious situation.

HADLEY:
Akmal’s on the roof, I’ll just dial – I won’t ring the coppers and get Andrew Scipione’s officers around in NSW or the Commissioner’s officers from Queensland around, I’ll ring this helpline while Akmal’s up on the roof.

MORRISON:
Well I’ll tell you what they will do, they won’t bother about the helpline, they will ring the local police and we’ll have local police turning out to these sorts of issues and our police in Sydney as we all know have got a big job at the moment with the guns that are coming into this country under Labor’s failed border protection polices.

HADLEY:
OK here’s ‘frequently asked questions’ for hosts. As a host, how does it work? You’d be required to provide your guest with a clean, safe and adequately furnished room. A guest will need to have access to a bathroom, kitchen and laundry. The CPN Homestay arrangement only includes the room. A host can discuss inclusions further to the Homestay arrangement through private agreement with their guest, such as the option of including meals during the Homestay period. Well hang on a sec, the $300 is to cover food and board for detainees. That’s what the Telegraph’s reporting -that they’ve got from the Australian Homestay Network because I thought you’ve got a bloke in there eating a fair lot of money, there’s not a whole lot of profit margin in this, you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart but now I read that it only provides for board, if they want to be fed, they’ve got to whack up a bit more money, where do they get it from?

MORRISON:
Well they’ll get 89% of the Newstart allowance because on top of having the accommodation, they’ll be accessing a welfare payment as well. Now all of this we’re going to get into when Parliament resumes next week and beyond and we’ll be asking a lot of questions but, you know, we were asking these questions for a few months and they didn’t give any inkling that they were going down this path, we had to find this out for ourselves and we have and I think it’s important people know what the government’s doing.

HADLEY:
OK let’s get to the 7.30 Report because that was the thrust of our conversation before this story arrived on our desk this morning when we arrived. They featured a story on the 7.30 Report last night on fraud in visa applications – now completely separate to what I call illegal boat people, what the papers have to call asylum seekers because of a ruling by the Press Council which is another issue. There they were, we’ve got whistleblowers from inside the Department, former officers from the Department of Immigration telling us that people come to Islamabad who are Pakistanis pretending to be Afghans because they went away and got some sort of identification to say they were Afghan, not Pakistani, applying to come here and then they say no, the officers investigate, then they apply to the Migration Review Tribunal which is a government funded organisation back in Australia and more often than not, they appear to be saying ‘yes’ to the people who are arriving here, then you have the ongoing problem of family reunion. Then they were talking about young girls being brought out here for arranged marriages –

MORRISON:
- and children. But the point here is Ray, the point you make about the Migration Review Tribunal is the link. The people who are making these applications are family members of people already in Australia, that’s why they can take a case to the Migration Review Tribunal so what you’ve got and it may well be that there are many asylums seekers who have come by boat and now making applications to bring their family members out and that is what is going through the Islamabad post and that is what is now being reviewed in the courts. Now on the program last night, the Minister was nowhere to be seen, he put a bureaucrat out on the end of the stick to go and have to explain all this and they said they believed there was a problem. Well what I want to know is what action is taken? It’s a big thing for a department official to become a whistleblower on this and they wouldn’t do that if they thought the government’s response on this was adequate and if they did know about it, how many cases have been referred to the Federal Police? How many prosecutions are pending? How many visas have been cancelled? How many fraud investigations have got to the point where they’ve reviewed the security status of the Islamabad post and why has the Minister chosen so far not to suspend assessment of applications? I’m not necessarily saying that would necessary but he should at least have considered it and have a pretty good answer as to why he hasn’t done it. The Minister has answered none of these questions and it suggests to me that this is just another smokescreen for another Labor immigration failure and that’s why the Australian people have lost complete confidence in this mob.

HADLEY:
They couldn’t get the figures last night on the 7.30 Report, does the Opposition have access to any figures in relation to this and what’s done with these people?

MORRISON:
Well these are the exact questions I’m now asking because if the Minister says through his officials that they know that this is a problem, well he should know. He should know exactly how many visas. I mean, how many cases before the Migration Review Tribunal, because what the official said last night is they know something dodgy was going on, they were saying no and then the family member of the person back here in Australia takes it to the Migration Review Tribunal and it all gets overturned. Now if there are dodgy things going on, those cases should be reviewed, those people involved in lodging those appeals should be being interviewed and if necessary, by the Australian Federal Police and I want to know why that’s not happening.

HADLEY:
I saw the official from the Migration Review Tribunal say last night the reason why we allow them is because when they’re knocked back in Islamabad, they then know why they’ve been knocked back and they find further information which we then review. So in other words, they get the lies, they find out they’ve been knocked back because of some part of the lie, they then lie a bit more and the MRT fall over themselves wringing their hands to accommodate them.

MORRISON:
Well that’s true and let’s not forget that in recent times the government has now opened the Refugee Review Tribunal to all boat arrivals now, we didn’t provide that. They’re now doing that so this opens up another channel so look, you’re right Ray, it is a question of something very dodgy allegedly going on, the Department says they know about it, the Minister’s nowhere to be seen as usual, he’s hiding under a desk in India I think somewhere today and he should really, when he gets back to Australia, explain this. But I want to know what action he’s already taken – not what he says he’s now going to do – because they say they already know about it.

HADLEY:
Ok let’s take some calls, a couple of people. We didn’t tell Scott that we’d do this but there are people wanting to ask I think reasonable questions that he could answer better than myself. So Leanne’s online from down there from Bargo in NSW, G’day Leanne.

CALLER:
Hi Ray how are you? Listen, my question is – this $300 that we’re offering, come tax time, is it tax free or do we get hit with an extra income tax bill at tax time?

HADLEY:
So you’re talking about the people who are billeting these people, is that declared as income?

CALLER:
Because it will become an earning, won’t it?

MORRISON:
My assumption is that would be right, it would be just like rent if you were a property owner. I can check that for you Ray but that would be my assumption.

HADLEY:
It’s a very good question, thank you Leanne I appreciate it.

MORRISON:
You have to pay tax on it as well, there you go.

HADLEY:
Another caller saying and I think it’s a general – are you worried about the safety of people inside the home if these boat people are put there without the sort of checks you need? Well we’ve discussed that already.

MORRISON:
Of course and that is a real risk. I’m not going to suggest that it’s a risk that exists in every case but when you don’t know who people are, how can you assess it? That’s why I think this scheme, which was designed for students, is not appropriate for this pathway which the other Homestay provider, Ray, in your earlier email, agreed with.

HADLEY:
Yeah ok. Kerry g’day.

CALLER:
Ray, for heaven’s sake mate, wouldn’t you think someone in there would ring the alarm bell when this got put up? Wouldn’t you think that someone could see that this is going to be pink batts tenfold? They’re going to put people from a country that has no respect, no understanding for Western women, Western culture, no checks being made – this will be pink batts tenfold and I can predict this is going to be an absolute disaster and I don’t understand why somebody, just anybody in there doesn’t ring the bell.

HADLEY:
Well Kerry I can answer that. You are dealing with an organisation who’ve lent support to Craig Thomson over a long period of time, who of course introduced as you said pink batts, who’ve introduced the NBN and the climate commission and that’s not costed into the budget and there’s about 50 or 60 billion there which is not included in expenditure in the Budget to be announced next week so even though they say we’re pretending to have a $1.5 billion surplus – we wont’ because they haven’t included somewhere between $50, 60 or 70 billion in the budget. You’re talking about people that’ve done the BER, you’re talking about a Prime Minister who said before the last election there’ll be no carbon tax under any government I need. You’re talking about some bona fide, gold plated, gold carat nincompoops.

CALLER:
We’re one on this Ray, I just wish they’d pass the baton…

HADLEY:
Scott Morrison just one final thing – we have to wind it up. Before a boat even bypassed our continent and got to the Shaky isles, their government has said no, we’re having the equivalent of temporary protection visas – you get three years and then we’ll review it. That was a sniff that ten Chinese nationals may be sailing there so they did what we all should do and introduce this. So the New Zealand government reacts when there’s a sniff of ten people arriving, how many have we had under this government?

MORRISON:

Just shy of 17,000 on 302 boats and the same thing happened a couple of years ago in Canada when a large boat carrying Sri Lankan asylum seekers turned up and they reacted with temporary protection visas as well so you know they all got it without even having to be assisted. This government just doesn’t get it.

HADLEY:
Couple more – Chris says, will the $300 have to cover food and utility costs? Well according to the document from the organisation providing the accommodation, no it’s just for board.

MORRISON:
Yeah I mean some of that is still unclear and we’ll get to the bottom of that in parliament.

HADLEY:
And one other thing – quickly Joan you have to make it quick, I’ve got to go. You wanted to ask Scott Morrison one question, love?

CALLER:
Yes I do. I daresay Australian families with children in the family wouldn’t be allowed to have them because I would daresay they’d have to have background checks similar to what bus drivers, school teachers, childcare workers, to say they’re safe to be around children.

HADLEY:
Well said.

MORRISON:
Well the people going into these homes won’t be children, they’ll be single males but they’ll be able to go into the homes of Australian families where I’m sure there will be children and that will be a decision those householders will take but they need to take it carefully.

HADLEY:
Well I think the point Joan’s making is not the householder having a background check but the fact that the householder may have children in the house –

MORRISON:
That’s right.

HADLEY:
And you’re inviting someone into your home without a background check.

MORRISON:
This decision – people need to think carefully about this because the government I don’t think has.

HADLEY:
Alright then, thanks for coming in Scott.

MORRISON:
Thanks a lot Ray, good to be with you.

HADLEY:
Scott Morrison, the Shadow Immigration Minister talking to us.

Ends

Media Release : Morrison and Kelly seek assurances on ANSTO waste

Tue, 01 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Federal Member for Cook, Scott Morrison and Federal Member for Hughes, Craig Kelly will meet with senior management of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation for a full explanation on plans to temporarily store medical and scientific research waste at the facility.

“I will be asking ANSTO for a full explanation of what is intended to be temporarily stored at the Lucas Heights facility including the approvals and oversight process involved and the Federal Government standards that must be followed,” Mr Morrison said.

“The safety and security of Sutherland Shire residents must be the pivotal concern in any such proposal and must be guaranteed. Nothing less will be acceptable,” he said.

“While reports indicate that this will be a small amount of waste stored at the ANSTO facility temporarily and that there is no risk to the surrounding community, Sutherland Shire residents expect that no compromise is made on safety.

“This waste must be stored at ANSTO temporarily. The Federal Government must meet a commitment to build a permanent storage facility away from Australian population centres in five years.

“The ANSTO facility has been part of the Shire for decades and makes an important contribution to our local economy, while supporting local schools and providing a hub for scientific research.

“The facility has an excellent track record, however with these types of facilities there is no margin for error,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Kelly, who has lived in the Menai area that is home to the Lucas Heights facility for more than two decades, said: “Obviously local residents, such as myself, recognise the situation is not ideal and that a national repository for long term storage away from population centres should be a priority.

“There are currently over 100 sites storing low and intermediate level waste, including the storage facilities already in place at Lucas Heights that have been there for decades.”

“A national repository is required for the long term storage of low and intermediate level waste produced in this country.”

“At the same time we shouldn’t forget that one in two Australians benefit from nuclear medicine over their lifetime and it is the Lucas Heights facility that gives Australians access to these remarkable medical advances,” Mr Kelly said.

Media Release : Labor should follow kiwi lead on TPVs as boat 302 arrives

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The illegal arrival of 13 boats and almost 1,000 people in April, including another overnight comes at the same time as the New Zealand Government has announced it will introduce temporary protection visas, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said today.

“The New Zealand Prime Minister has seen the wisdom of introducing TPVs after just one boat sought to make its way to New Zealand and decided to stay in Darwin. Prime Minister Gillard refuses to restore TPVs after 302 boats have turned up as a result of Labor’s soft border policies,” Mr Morrison said.

“Illegal boat arrivals carrying 971 people in April were the second highest on record for this Government. The record was set only last December when 991 people turned up on illegal boats,” he said.

“We have now had our two highest levels of monthly arrivals on record under this Government since they announced their 'let them in, let them out' policy of community release and bridging visas last November.

“Rather than restore the policies that worked, Labor continue to make excuses and blame others for their failures. If the New Zealand Government can introduce TPVs then Prime Minister Gillard has no excuse for not doing the same,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Keenan said: “As the 30th boat of 2012 arrives carrying 27 people, bringing the total number of illegal arrivals under Labor to almost 17,000, it is clear to all Australians that under a Gillard Government there is no semblance of a border protection regime.

“This rapid rate of arrivals is a direct response to a Labor Government that is once again too busy dealing with its own internal scandals and leadership problems to effectively control the crisis that is occurring at our borders.

“The Prime Minister and her Cabinet may continue to use smoke and mirrors tricks but at the end of the day these extraordinarily high numbers speak loud and clear about the state of Australia’s borders.

“Labor has no intention of offering any viable solutions to stop people smuggling – only an election and a Coalition Government will restore order and control to our Border Protection Command,” Mr Keenan said.

Media Release : Gillard delivers budget surplus for people smugglers as $1.6 million boat arrives

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The illegal arrival of the largest boat in more than two years, carrying 170 people, will yield more than $1.6 million for people smugglers highlighting that their trade is roaring under Labor's soft border policies, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said today.

“The only budget surplus the Gillard Government has delivered has been for the people smugglers, with illegal boat arrivals continuing to surge in 2012,” Mr Morrison said.

“More than 940 people have turned up on 12 illegal boats so far this month, with the latest carrying 170 people, the largest in more than two years. More people have turned up by boat since Anzac Day than in the last six years of the Howard Government,” he said.

“Labor has simply given up on border protection and given in to the Greens, continuing to soften policy.

“Labor's 'let them in, let them out' policy has supercharged the people smugglers’ product, with more than 3,300 people turning up on 42 boats since the introduction of Labor's community release plan for single male asylum seekers on bridging visas.

“Labor's only answer is to offer lame excuses and to seek to blame others for their own hopeless policy failures. After more than 300 illegal boat arrivals Labor still cannot accept responsibility,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Keenan said: “With the arrival of the second boat in as many days it is clear that the people smugglers have well and truly cemented their control over Australia's borders.

“The hard working men and women of our Border Protection Command continue to face an uphill battle with no support from Labor.

“When our country is facing a complete crisis at our borders, it seems the only response Labor can offer is an excuse.

“The Gillard Government can no longer afford to ignore one of the principle roles of the Commonwealth - protecting our borders,” Mr Keenan said.

Media Release : 300th boat arrival under Labor, yet another milestone of failure on our borders

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Labor has wracked up another milestone of failure on our borders, with the arrival of the 300th illegal boat on their watch, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said today.

“The latest illegal boat arrival, with 60 people on board, is the 300th boat and the 300th border protection policy failure under Labor,” Mr Morrison said.

“As Labor continues to be weighed down by stench and scandal, 300 boats confirm that border protection is Julia Gillard’s worst policy failure. This Prime Minister has presided over the complete dismantling of Australia’s once strong border protection system with people smugglers the only winners,” he said.

“Labor’s 300 boats have resulted in $3.9 billion in budget blow outs and counting, chaos, rioting and the collapse of our detention network, the Oceanic Viking debacle, East Timor farce, the Malaysia five for one people swap failure and $160 million dollars in profits for people smugglers.

“Over half of Labor’s 300 boat arrivals have come on Julia Gillard’s watch. This is the Prime Minister who promised to smash the people smugglers’ business model but has become the people smugglers’ stimulus model with her continued failures on our borders.

“Almost 17,000 people have now arrived under Labor’s failed policies and people smugglers have ramped up their efforts since Labor announced their Greens policy of let them in, let them out for boat arrivals in November last year.

“As the milestones of failure mount, the government’s only policy is to blame the Coalition. This is not a real policy but a pathetic attempt to deflect attention from their failures and hide from accountability.

“Only the Coalition is serious about border protection and will implement proven policies that will stop the boats,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Keenan said: “The 300th illegal boat arrival since Labor unravelled the Coalition’s strong border protection policies is a harsh reality check.

“There are no signs of this constant stream of boat arrivals relenting whilst the Gillard Government remain in power.

“With no semblance of a border protection policy, Labor seems content to simply sit back and watch the people smugglers make their fortune at the expense of endangering thousands of lives.

“It has been made crystal clear by the Gillard Government that they are only interested in blaming others for their own incompetence rather than acting in the national interest and the Australian people won’t be offered any viable solutions by the Labor Party to this border protection crisis,” Mr Keenan said.

Boat arrivals since Labor abolished the Howard Government’s proven border protection policies -

30 September 2008, 6 October 2008, 20 November 2008, 28 November 2008, 3 December 2008, 7 December 2008, 16 December 2008, 17 January 2009, 14 March 2009, 2 April 2009, 2 April 2009, 8 April 2009, 15 April 2009, 22 April 2009, 25 April 2009, 29 April 2009, 29 April 2009, 5 May 2009, 10 May 2009, 25 May 2009, 9 June 2009, 15 June 2009, 23 June 2009, 28 June 2009, 11 July 2009, 13 August 2009, 29 August 2009, 7 September 2009, 12 September 2009, 13 September 2009, 15 September 2009, 16 September 2009, 23 September 2009, 27 September 2009, 27 September 2009, 30 September 2009, 1 October 2009, 9 October 2009, 12 October 2009, 18 October 2009, 21 October 2009, 22 October 2009, 23 October 2009, 26 October 2009, 29 October 2009, 4 November 2009, 5 November 2009, 14 November 2009, 15 November 2009, 16 November 2009, 16 November 2009, 20 November 2009, 23 November 2009, 26 November 2009, 26 November 2009, 27 November 2009, 3 December 2009, 4 December 2009, 6 December 2009, 9 December 2009, 10 December 2009, 15 December 2009, 18 December 2009, 26 December 2009, 28 December2009, 29 December 2009, 30 December 2009, 31 December2009, 3 January 2010, 3 January 2010, 8 January 2010, 10 January 2010, 13 January 2010, 22 January 2010, 23 January 2010, 26 January 2010, 1 February 2010, 4 February 2010, 6 February 2010, 12 February 2010, 18 February 2010, 20 February 2010, 24 February 2010, 25 February 2010, 28 February 2010, 3 March 2010, 6 March 2010, 7 March 2010, 10 March 2010, 11 March 2010, 11 March 2010, 13 March 2010, 19 March 2010, 21 March 2010, 23 March 2010, 23 March 2010, 24 March 2010, 27 March 2010, 29 March 2010, 29 March 2010, 31 March 2010, 3 April 2010, 4 April 2010, 6 April 2010, 7 April 2010, 8 April 2010, 10 April 2010, 10 April 2010 11 April 2010, 11 April 2010 16 April 2010, 21 April 2010, 22 April 2010, 26 April 2010, 27 April 2010, 28 Apr 2010, 29 April 2010, 3 May 2010, 6 May 2010, 9 May 2010, 10 May 2010, 10 May 2010, 11 May 2010, 12 May 2010, 13 May 2010, 16 May 2010, 17 May 2010, 18 May 2010, 30 May 2010, 4 June 2010, 4 June 2010, 5 June 2010, 5 June 2010, 8 June 2010, 12 June 2010, 12 June 2010, 16 June 2010, 18 June 2010, 18 June 2010, 23 June 2010, 26 June 2010, 2 July 2010, 4 July 2010, 6 July 2010, 12 July 2010, 13 July 2010, 14 July 2010, 21 July 2010, 21 July 2010, 28 July 2010, 10 August 2010, 15 August 2010, 17 August 2010, 18 August 2010, 21 August 2010, 22 August 2010, 26 August 2010, 28 August 2010, 31 August 2010, 1 September 2010, 2 September 2010, 7 September 2010, 14 September 2010, 20 September 2010, 29 September 2010, 1 October 2010, 1 October 2010, 4 October 2010, 7 October 2010, 8 October 2010, 8 October 2010, 9 October 2010, 11 October 2010, 13 October 2010, 21 October 2010, 22 October 2010, 23 October 2010, 24 October 2010, 27 October 2010 28 October 2010, 2 November 2010, 2 November 2010, 3 November 2010, 3 November 2010, 5 November 2010, 6 November 2010, 8 November 2010, 11 November 2010, 17 November 2010, 18 November 2010, 24 November 2010, 25 November 2010, 26 November 2010, 30 November 2010, 1 December 2010, 10 December 2010, 11 December 2010, 14 December 2010, 15 December 2010, 16 December 2010, 19 December 2010, 21 December 2010, 25 December 2010, 4 January 2011, 8 January 2011, 6 February 2011, 8 February 2011, 20 February 2011, 26 February 2011, 4 March 2011, 4 March 2011, 12 March 2011, 6 March 2011, 17 March 2011, 1 March 2011, 30 March 2011, 8 April 2011, 12 April 2011, 17 April 2011, 22 April 2011, 22 April 2011, 29 April 2011, 5 May 2011, 7 May 2011, 14 May 2011, 16 May 2011, 16 May 2011, 30 May 2011, 4 June 2011, 7 June 2011, 24 June 2011, 8 July 2011, 21 July 2011, 21 July 2011, 24 July 2011, 31 July 2011, 7 August 2011, 11 August 2011, 12 August 2011, 19 August 2011, 9 September 2011, 23 September 2011, 23 September 2011, 28 September 2011, 1 October 2011, 19 October 2011, 19 October 2011, 23 October 2011, 23 October 2011, 30 October 2011, 1 November 2011, 2 November 2011, 6 November 2011, 8 November 2011, 14 November 2011, 21 November 2011, 22 November 2011, 23 November 2011, 23 November 2011, 31 November 2011, 1 December 2011, 2 December 2011, 2 December 2011, 6 December 2011, 6 December 2011, 8 December 2011, 9 December 2011, 9 December 2011, 13 December 2011, 14 December 2011, 16 December 2011, 24 December 2011, 2 January 2012, 2 January 2012, 7 January 2012, 17 January 2012, 19 January 2012, 11 February 2012, 15 February 2012, 15 February 2012, 17 February 2012, 17 February 2012, 18 February 2012, 21 February 2012, 22 February 2012, 22 February 2012, 6 March 2012, 13 March 2012, 24 March 2012, 2 April 2012, 3 April 2012, 5 April 2012, 6 April 2012, 11 April 2012, 11 April 2012, 13 April 2012, 14 April 2012, 18 April 2012, 25 April 2012, 27 April 2012

Media Release : 299th boat arrives as Labor consumed by scandal

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The arrival of another illegal boat, with 52 people on board, is the 299th to arrive on Labor’s watch, leaving a distracted Labor Government consumed by scandal on the cusp of yet another milestone of failure on border protection, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said.

“While Labor remains consumed and distracted by scandal and incompetence, people smugglers continue to send illegal boats at will. Over 2,000 people have arrived this year alone, almost double the number that arrived this time last year and the 300th boat arrival under Labor will only be a matter of time,” Mr Morrison said.

“People smugglers are continuing to react aggressively to Labor’s decision to capitulate to the Greens and announce their let them in, let them out policy on boat arrivals of community release.

“This month alone ten boats have arrived with over 700 people on board, double the number of people who arrived last April.

“With yet another milestone of failure upon them, the government’s only policy is to blame the Coalition. This is not a real policy but a pathetic attempt to deflect attention from their failures and hide from accountability.

“Only the Coalition is serious about border protection and will implement the proven border protection policies needed to stop the boats,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Keenan said: “Once again the Labor Party’s soft policies on border protection have opened the flood gates to our borders, with the interception of another illegal vessel carrying 50 passengers and 2 crew.

“In the same way that criminal gangs continue to smuggle illegal guns through our porous borders, the people smugglers continue to decide who comes into our country by monopolising Labor’s failure on border protection.

“How bad does the situation have to get before Labor concedes that this border protection crisis of their own making, which has so far cost the Australian taxpayer almost $4billion, can only be fixed by reinstating offshore processing on Nauru, Temporary Protection Visas and turning the boats around when it is safe to do so.

“Until the Gillard Government restores the Coalition’s proven policies, the boats will continue to come and the people smugglers will continue to profit from this evil trade that places people’s lives at risk,” Mr Keenan said.

Speech : Transcript - 6PR Paul Murray Show

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - 6PR Paul Murray Show

Thursday 26th April 2012

SUBJECTS: Reports government will raise annual migrant intake; skilled migration

E and OE

MURRAY:
Earlier this week the union movement ramped up its campaign to force mining companies to train more young Australians as a way of meeting the skills shortages being caused by the unprecedented demands of this mining boom. The construction and mining union accused the miners of providing no money for training and only being interested in importing labour from overseas. And the union accused governments, both State and Federal of being complicit in seeing foreign workers as the solution to the skills shortage problem. Well, it seems they were right on the mark. The West Australian newspaper reports on page 1 today that Treasurer Wayne Swan and his boffins are hatching a plan to significantly increase the annual intake of permanent skilled migrants. In fact, the West reports there are plans to raise the migration level from the previous bipartisan level of around 180,000 a year to 230,000 which would be an all time record. So they now don’t even want to meet the demands of the boom through 457 temporary visas for foreign workers but through a massive influx of permanent migrants, most of them with skills obtained overseas. One immediate effect of that, of course, would be to reduce the pressure to train Australians to meet the skills demand. It’ll also be interesting to see how the Gillard government intends to make such a big increase fit within its recent population strategy, designed to get away from Kevin Rudd’s idea of a big Australia which was seen as politically unsellable and help reduce the pressure on congested cities by redirecting population growth to regional areas. Scott Morrison is the Opposition’s Migration spokesperson and he joins me now. Morning Scott.

MORRISON:
G’day, how are you?

MURRAY:
Well thanks Scott. This story on page 1 of the West today could only have come from Treasurer Wayne Swan’s office. It says Treasury favours a total migrant intake of 230,000 a year to meet the skills demand of the mining boom, is that justified?

MORRISON:
Well I think the Treasurer has to be a lot more upfront with people about what he’s up to here. Less than one in five people who come under the permanent program end up in Western Australia. It’s the least most effective way to target getting people to the states and places and the jobs and the industries of all the programs. The one thing I’m quite sure the Treasurer’s aware of is if you bump up your migration program in the Budget, you’re able to bump up your revenue figures as well so forgive me for being a little cynical but the Treasurer’s commitment to skilled migration is a little coincidental with his budget crisis.

MURRAY:
Yes we’re not actually seeing the skilled migration program - of course is within the total migration program - we’re not actually seeing the figures that they’re eventually talking about which might be made up of skilled migrants.

MORRISON:
Well that’s right.

MURRAY:
But they are talking about – the story says that they’re supporting treasury to take the total migrant intake to 230,000. From memory, that figure’s 50,000 more than the annual level that was recommended in Peter Costello’s Intergenerational Reports. You used to work on 180,000 didn’t you?

MORRISON:
Well we’re conflating two figures. The 180,000 is net overseas migration so that’s all temporary and permanent – the net of those two but we are talking about with what the Treasurer’s said to have put out there an increase in the migration program, the Permanent program. Now the issue here is exactly what you said before – are all those additional places going to be for skills? In our view, in my view in particular, I think the only justification for expanding the program is for skills and the more important issue is what type of skilled migration? How are we going to get people over to the West and up into North Queensland and places like this because under the permanent program you can come and live wherever you like. The figures show pretty plainly that more than half the people who turn up under our permanent program end up in NSW and Victoria. Now the real need is to get people into jobs in the West and so you do that through two ways; one is by focusing more on temporary skilled migration and liberalising the 457 process for Western Australia in particular but the other way is by having incentives to get Australians off the east coast and onto the west coast by giving them those transfer incentives that we’ve talked about and our employment participation policies.

MURRAY:
These figures of 230,000 bandied about brings up the debate about big Australia again which Labor tried to walk from because as you said, it plays into all these arguments about congested cities and particularly Sydney, which are politically unpalatable.

MORRISON:
They’re not just politically unpalatable, they have very real impacts on the quality of life in say Sydney and Melbourne and lazily just bumping up the permanent migration program to get your budget figures to look better won’t result in dealing with the shortages we’re seeing in Western Australia. It will put more pressure on Sydney and Melbourne without any real purpose behind it. We support skilled migration and we particularly support it in places like the West where it is really genuinely needed but it’s needed in particular places and you need to be quite targeted about this. I think Australians have had a gutful of unplanned, unrestrained migration without having a serious look at what it’s for, where it should go and how you’re going to make sure that happens.

MURRAY:
Scott I suppose it comes down to this question here. Should the peaks of the mining boom’s demands be met by temporary or permanent migration?

MORRISON:
Temporary. This is, I think, the real answer to that question and the longer term demands should be achieved by building up your Australian labour force through skills programs and what are very difficult policies and objectives in trying to get the Australian population to be a lot more mobile. It is very difficult to achieve so I don’t want to raise hopes there but that’s the way you do it. Greater net interstate migration from the east coast to the west coast I think is a critical population objective for any government and it’s certainly one that I’d be focused on.

MURRAY:
Thanks for talking to us Scott.

MORRISON:
Thanks a lot.

MURRAY:
Scott Morrison, Opposition’s immigration spokesperson.

Ends

Media Release : Scott Morrison and Jason Clare launch the next Mateship Trek

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The Federal Member for Cook Scott Morrison and Federal Member for Blaxland Jason Clare today announced that they will spend the next year organising and training for their next Mateship Trek – along the 'Black Cat' Track between Wau and Salamaua in Northern Papua New Guinea.

This will be the third Mateship Trek organised by Jason and Scott since they were elected to Parliament in 2007. The first Mateship Trek was along the Kokoda Track in 2009. The second retraced the Sandakan Death March in Malaysian Borneo in 2011.

The next Mateship Trek will take place over the Anzac Day period next year and will involve eight young people, over the age of eighteen, from the electorates of Blaxland and Cook. Scott and Jason will also select four other extraordinary young people from around the country to join them.

“This Mateship Trek is all about three things - raising money for charity, raising awareness of our military history and building friendships between young people in the areas Scott and I represent,” Mr Clare said.

“If two blokes from different political parties can be mates so can people from different religions and backgrounds. Walking in the footsteps of Australian soldiers makes it clear how much we have in common and the responsibility we all have to live a life worthy of their sacrifice.”

Mr Morrison said, "These mateship treks enable us to pay tribute to our diggers by ensuring their sacrifices are not forgotten and, more importantly, that their memories are carried on by a new generation who have had the privilege to walk in their footsteps.

"They are also an opportunity for young people with very different experiences of Australian life to come together and discover what they have in common, namely the inheritance they share as Australians from the sacrifice of our Defence forces, both past and present.”

The 'Black Cat Track' covers an area of Northern PNG that was the scene for a series of bloody battles during 1943 that were, in many ways, the sequel to the Kokoda and Buna/Gona campaigns of the previous year.

Although not as well known as the Kokoda campaign, the battles fought along the ‘Black Cat Track’ were some of the most important fought by Australian forces in the Second World War.

After repelling the surge of Japanese forces in early 1943 to defend the allied base and airstrip at Wau, Australian forces then combined to force the Japanese back over the 'bloody ranges', supported by American troops, to retake Salamaua in September 1943.

The trek will retrace the path of many of these battles from the defence of Wau, then along the track to Guadagasal, Vickers Ridge, Mubo, Bobdubi Ridge, then down to "The Coconuts" and along the Francisco River to Salamaua.

Like Kokoda, these battles were captured by award winning wartime filmmaker Damien Parer. His film "Assault on Salamaua" included the iconic footage of Sergeant Gordon Ayre assisting Private William Johnson, his head heavily bandaged after being injured by a grenade, across a swollen Allen Creek in the pouring rain (http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/127971).

The campaigns had many other heroes such as stretcher-bearer Corporal Leslie 'Bull' Allen and the courageous Captain William Sherlock. These and many others will have their stories retold by the trekkers along the track, who will each carry the name and memory of one serviceman who took part in the battles.

The 'Black Cat Track' is often cited as one of the most arduous treks in the world, crossing untouched mountainous jungle. It is referred to by the Lonely Planet guidebook as “suitable only for masochists and Israeli Paratroopers”.

However, the physical challenge of the trek will be secondary to the tribute paid to our soldiers and the task of raising funds to support the people of the villages along the track, the descendants of another band of fuzzy wuzzy angels who did so much to support our soldiers during the Second World War.

The Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC, is the patron of the Mateship Trek. Once again we will be seeking the support of community organisations and Australian companies to assist the young people involved raise money for the trek and for those we are trying to help.

More information about the Black Cat trail and imagery can be accessed at: http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/pushingback/wausalamaua.html

Media Release : Joint media release - Labor's 'building the detention centre revolution' costs each Woodside resident over $38K

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Chris Bowen’s attempts to spin Labor’s border failures as good for the Woodside community and good for Australia, shows just how desperate and out of touch Labor has become on their border protection failures, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Federal Member for Mayo, Jamie Briggs said.

“Labor’s spin has no limits, trying to cynically pass off their border failures as some type of economic stimulus package for local residents. It’s a joke,” Mr Morrison said.

“It shows just how desperate and out of touch the Gillard Government has become. Not content with creating chaos on our borders and in detention centres around the country, at exorbitant cost to the taxpayer by dismantling the Howard Government’s strong border protection policies, Minister Bowen now wants Australians to thank him for it.

“Minister Bowen not only presides over a broken and failed border protection regime, he is now insisting that his government’s failed policies, which have seen over 16,600 people arrive on illegal boats, are good for Australia.

“Despite how Chris Bowen wants to spin this, Labor’s failed border protection policies have wasted billions of dollars, resulting in a blow out in their budget of $3.9 billion with more on the way.

“The Coalition remains committed to proven border protection policies that stop the boats, get our border protection system under control, end the billions in wasteful spending and close facilities like Inverbrackie that stand as the proof of Labor’s border failures,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Briggs said: “The government has spent $64.8 million on the facility at Inverbrackie. That’s $138,229 for each of the alleged 463 jobs created by Labor’s failed policies, and $38,006 for each of Woodside’s 1,705 residents.

“Chris Bowen says that he ‘hopes’ the Woodside community will ‘continue to reap the benefits’ of the facility. No Australian is reaping any benefit from Labor’s failed border protection policies that has cost the Australian taxpayers an extra $3.9 billion to date.

“The anger expressed by local residents over the Inverbrackie facility was never directed at asylum seekers but towards the Gillard Labor Government who announced this facility without any consultation. But to say that this is all somehow a perfect ending and a great thing for the Australian economy is fanciful,” Mr Briggs said.

Speech : Address to the Wentworth Forum - 'Building a great nation of citizens'

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Address to the Wentworth Forum - 'Building a great nation of citizens'

Thursday 19th April 2012

The United States and Australia are the two most successful immigrant nations on earth.

That success is represented in the extraordinary level of social cohesion that exists in proportion to the broad diversity of ethnic, national, religious, racial and language origins of our citizen and resident population.

This success has been hard won, and has not been without failure along the way. It is important to reflect on the reasons for our success.

For both nations, our success can be traced to some important principles. I believe they were best expressed by President Teddy Roosevelt more than 100 years ago in his first state of the union address when he said “we need every honest and efficient immigrant fitted to become an American citizen” [i].

Roosevelt understood that immigration was a nation building initiative, not a welfare programme. He believed that national greatness was dependent upon the capacity and character of the individual citizen to make a contribution. In my view, this is the most important of all Liberal Conservative values.

He saw immigration as the vehicle to recruit and build a great nation and enhance the national interest. He proposed that immigration should be selective and subject to a threefold test.

Firstly, a character test, that addressed not only issues of national security but ensured that immigrants were “not of low moral tendency or of unsavory reputation”[ii].

Secondly, a civics test, to ensure there was an “intelligent capacity to appreciate American institutions and act sanely as American citizens”[iii].

Thirdly, an economic test, requiring a “a certain standard of economic fitness”, with “proper proof of personal capacity to earn an American living and enough money to insure a decent start under American conditions”[iv].

While Roosevelt believed strongly in selection, he did not believe in discrimination.

In 1919 he said “if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American .. he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin”[v].

Roosevelt also believed that as a host nation, there was an obligation to support immigrants to become good citizens.

In 1916 he said "we must in every way possible encourage the immigrant to rise, help him up, give him a chance to help himself. If we try to carry him he may well prove not well worth carrying. We must in turn insist upon his showing the same standard of fealty to this country and to join with us in raising the level of our common American citizenship”[vi].

Ultimately Roosevelt believed that the success of an immigration programme would be measured in the calibre of the citizens it produced and that such citizenship could not be ambiguous.

In 1919 he said ‘there can be no divided allegiance here … we have room for but one flag ... but one language ... and .. but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.[vii]"

The principles of a non-discriminatory immigration policy, where selection is based on character, an appreciation of the values and institutions of the host nation and the ability to contribute have also driven Liberal immigration policy from Menzies to Abbott, and all in between.

Like Roosevelt, our aim has been to make good citizens and we have had success.

Last year the Centre for Independent Studies produced a policy monograph as part of their Population and Growth Series[viii].

The paper argues that Australia's selective migration system is the driving cause for Australia's success as one the world's most culturally diverse nations.

They observe that 'Australia predominantly received migrants who were qualified and capable of easily integrating into society' [ix] and that Australia has been 'cherry picking' the best qualified migrants, most likely to make a positive contribution[x].

They argue that Germany and the United Kingdom did not follow our planned migration path and have paid the price in social dislocation.

The paper cites an article in the American Sociological Review into the effects of policies regulating immigration in Australia and New Zealand which found that 'the relatively high educational and occupational status of immigrant’s parents .. fully explains the better educational performance of immigrant children'[xi] and that 'our analyses do not support the hypothesis that the better performance of immigrant children in traditional immigration countries can be explained by a more receptive attitude toward immigrants in these countries'.

This is supported by more recent DIAC research which shows that unemployment in 2010-11 was lower for all migrant males regardless of background (3.9% MESC, 4.9% NESC) than Australian born males (5.0%) and for migrant females from mainly English speaking countries (5.0%) than Australian born females (5.1%) and the labour force generally (5.1%)[xii].

Migrants also had higher rates of tertiary education attainment and were over represented in professional and management occupations.

The CIS authors concluded by saying 'if Australia wants to continue the process of attracting migrants into the future, it should not deviate from its policy of selecting migrants by their suitability. Migrants can only add value to recipient countries if they fit in and make an effort to integrate. Immigration nations ignore this basic insight at their peril'[xiii].

I agree, and I raise this because it is important to understand the reasons for our success. We are a successful immigration nation and I want to keep it that way.

We must not develop policy that seeks to address problems that, by comparison, we do not have.

While I empathise with Angela Merkel and David Cameron as they battle with the complex issues of social cohesion and immigration policy in a European context, their immigration practice has followed a very different path to Australia. Likewise, the response and focus of our immigration debate should be different.

So what challenges do we face today?

This evening I wish to focus on the size and composition of our migration programme.

My starting point is that population growth is good when managed well.

Australia population growth rate is currently 1.4% per annum and consistent with our long run average[xiv].

By global standards Australia does not have a slow rate of population growth. It is the same as India, is 0.3 percentage points higher than the global average of 1.1%, almost double the OECD average of 0.8%, and higher than other comparable western countries, including the UK at 0.6%, Canada at 1% and the USA at 0.9%[xv].

Immigration accounts for more than half of our annual population growth and is the most volatile component of that growth and the component over which the Federal Government has the greatest influence.

Immigration policy, therefore, must form part of any serious national population policy. The Government has steadfastly refused to acknowledge this link and has sought to quarantine immigration policy from the population debate.

This does not mean population policy, though, is all about immigration.

To the contrary, immigration is just the input. The outcome is about maintaining and improving our unique quality of life.

To achieve this we must ensure a balance between our capacity to support and absorb population growth with our capacity and necessity to generate such growth.

Professor MacDonald and Jeremy Temple’s paper “Immigration, Labour Supply and Per Capita Gross Domestic Product: Australia 2010-2050”summarises the challenges of sustainable population growth and the role of immigration well.

They observe that migration has a meaningful impact on the rate of growth per capita GDP that the impact of immigration on population ageing, and hence upon the rate of growth of per capita GDP gets smaller as the migration level increases.

There can also be no doubting the fiscal contribution of migration, in particular skilled migration.

Access Economics estimate the net fiscal impact of the 182,000 people who received permanent visas in 2010/11 in their first three year of settlement at more than $2.4 billion, with an average contribution of just over $13,400 each.

Permanent skilled migrants generate a net fiscal impact of $22,000 each over three years, while 90,120 457 visa entrants in 2010/11 will generate $2.2 billion over three years or more than $27,000 each[xvi].

By contrast, Access estimates family migrants will generate on average $5,780 each and the 13 770 refugee and humanitarian entrants will have a net fiscal cost of $380 million or $27,400 each.

However, this migration must be supported by increasing our capacity to support and absorb growth at the same time.

MacDonald and Temple also note that:

• without investment (heavily in infrastructure, new forms of energy and reversal of environmental degradation), Australia’s capacity to take full advantage of present and future opportunities is threatened[xvii], and
• if increased immigration proceeds without investment in new infrastructure, especially urban infrastructure, the result could be reductions in productivity through increased congestion and inefficiency[xviii], and therefore
• a plan relating to Australia’s future levels of immigration must be coordinated with policy for urban infrastructure especially housing, transport, water and appropriate energy supply[xix].

Those who have sought to dismiss the real concerns that exist about a ‘Big Australia’ and advocate unrestrained population growth as an economic necessity, must have a greater faith in the ability of Governments at all levels, to deliver the services, infrastructure and environmental mitigations that will be required, than I have observed, and certainly those sitting in the suburbs of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are prepared to acknowledge.

Concerns about a ‘Big Australia’ are less a function of concerns about immigration than they are an expression of lost confidence in the ability of Governments to plan and provide for the future. Without cause to increase this confidence, many Australians will not give Governments a blank cheque on population growth.

The popular fashion by some to berate and ridicule those who have concerns about a ‘Big Australia’ as economic philistines or nimbyists or, worse still, xenophobes and racists is a cop out. It is a lazy attempt by self appointed gate keepers to exclude legitimate issues being raised in the policy debate.

The roads, bridges, hospitals, water, energy and aged care infrastructure , we need are not going to turn up before the next budget, however we can seek to rebuild confidence through a more robust planning process that provide a context for immigration decisions.

From an immigration point of view it is critical to demonstrate that the migration programme is formed as part of a bigger picture population strategy that is seeking to deal with these broader issues. That is what our population policy is all about.

That is why the core proposition of our population policy is to nominate five year rolling population growth bands, to provide a population context for our migration programme.

MacDonald and Temple demonstrate that such a range can be identified when they concluded that there is a range of NOM levels, namely 160,000 to 210,000, which the modelling suggests would have the ‘best’ impact by 2050 on ageing of the population and the rate of growth of GDP per capita[xx].

This work needs to be undertaken in even far greater detail, on a more systematic and regular basis and go broader to consider issues such as infrastructure and services capacity as well as environmental impacts, to inform such a band in the future.

The band is not dissimilar to the inflation target range prescribed for the Reserve Bank to provide the context for monetary policy decisions.

Having set a robust framework to determine the size of your migration become, you must get the composition right.

Firstly, we must to come to terms with the fact that temporary migration is now the dominant component of population growth, rather than permanent migration.

In 1989-90 the share of temporary migrants in net overseas migration was around 10%[xxi]. In the year to year September 2011 it was 54%, having peaked at over two thirds in 2007/08, when NOM was more than 100,000 higher than it is today.

A breakdown of net overseas migration figures for 2007/08[xxii] show that it was not formal skilled migration that dominated our net overseas migration intake. 457s accounted for just 12%, while permanent skilled migration accounted for 17% - less than a third of our net intake was for skills.

Higher levels of net overseas migration do not necessarily equate to a higher level of skilled migration. Aggregate immigration is not the issue.

It is the composition that counts.

From a labour force perspective it is the level of skilled migration that matters.

Under the Howard Government, skilled migration was increased from less than 30%[xxiii] to almost 70% of the total permanent migration programme [xxiv] It is Coalition policy that skilled migration will be no less than two thirds of our migration programme. However, this will not be enough. We must address the need for temporary skills and labour.

We learnt many years ago that capital was mobile and adjusted our system of financial regulation and policy frameworks to accommodate and take advantage of this change, while protecting Australia's interests.

Today, people are mobile, and for employment in particular. We must come to terms with what temporary migration means for Australia, how it can serve our interests and what we must do to protect our interests.

We already know the economic benefits that have been derived from international visitors and students. We must now understand how utilizing temporary labour visas can grow our economy and create jobs for Australians, rather than myopically seeing it as a threat – currently 457 visa holders account for less than 1% of our labour force[xxv].

Temporary migration enables us to provide greater conditionality on a person's stay. Unlike permanent migrants, we can and should constrict the terms of their entry to work in particular locations, industries and occupations to address labour shortages. This can bring targeted benefits to regional areas, where such labour is needed, and protect against such labour gravitating to other areas, where it could threaten Australian jobs.

We need to revisit more liberalised access to 457s for trades and semi skilled occupations and look to reinstate the regional concessions Labor abolished. There is also a need to revisit the English language test.

English language skills are important to ensure awareness of compliance with occupational health and safety rules and to support social cohesion. Temporary migrants, whether they are students or workers, can be highly vulnerable to abuse. An understanding of English helps them access services and understand the protections available to them – from renting a flat, understanding the terms of their employment or taking out a loan.

However, our testing programme must be geared to more functional and vocational language skills rather than the one size fits all testing method currently adopted. We use the same test for those applying to undertake postgraduate study from Germany as we do for an abattoir worker from Brazil. The level of language skills required should also take into account the intended length of stay.

Our temporary migration policies must also be careful to manage the population impacts, ensuring that we apply appropriate constraints, most importantly that where appropriate such entrants return home when their purpose and stay has been completed – whether it is to work, study or visit – without onward application entitlements.

Where increases in temporary migration are balanced by departing temporary migrants, the population impact is mitigated.

Finally, given that our immigration and settlement programmes have been built for permanent settlement we must find ways to provide temporary migrants with access to settlement support.

These migrant groups are presently highly vulnerable in our community and receive little to assist them adjust to and participate in Australian life. This will undoubtedly involve direct involvement of businesses, sponsors and educational institutions in taking up greater responsibilities to support those they have brought here, to participate and integrate within the Australian community.

This is essential to ensuring greater social cohesion within our community.

The lesson of successful immigration is that you must always remember that who comes to country and the circumstances in which they come is a sovereign decision of your nation.

John Howard famously said more than ten years ago that ‘we will decide’. This approach has been the bedrock of our Liberal approach to immigration policy since we were founded. The Australian people understand and respect our consistency and strength when it comes to making these decisions in the national interest.

“We will decide” remains our policy and will be the key to a Coalition Government restoring community confidence in our immigration programme if successful at the next election.

i Roosevelt, T. 1901 First Annual Message – XXVI President of the United States – 3 December 1901 in ‘The American Presidency Project’, University of South Carolina Beaufort http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29542#axzz1sWs9QIA5

ii Roosevelt, T. 1901 First Annual Message – XXVI President of the United States in ‘The American Presidency Project’, University of South Carolina Beaufort http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29542#axzz1sWs9QIA5

iii Roosevelt, T. 1901 First Annual Message – XXVI President of the United States in ‘The American Presidency Project’, University of South Carolina Beaufort http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29542#axzz1sWs9QIA5

iv Roosevelt, T. 1901 First Annual Message – XXVI President of the United States in ‘The American Presidency Project’, University of South Carolina Beaufort http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29542#axzz1sWs9QIA5

v Letter by Theodore Roosevelt 1919, The Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington DC http://msgboard.snopes.com/politics/graphics/troosevelt.pdf

vi The New York Times. "A Roosevelt Idea Made in Germany." 2 February 1916 (p. 5).

vii Roosevelt, T. 1919 Letter To President of the American Defense Society,

January 3, 1919; last message, read at meeting in New York, January 5, 1919 http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/tr%20web%20book/tr_cd_to_html280.html

viii Hartwich, O.M. 2011 Policy Monographs Population and Growth Series 4: Selection, Migration and Integration: Why Multiculturalism Works in Australia (and fails in Europe), The Centre for Independent Studies [page vi] last accessed on 16 November 2011 http://www.politiquessociales.net/IMG/pdf/pm-121.pdf

ix Hartwich, O.M. 2011 Policy Monographs Population and Growth Series 4: Selection, Migration and Integration: Why Multiculturalism Works in Australia (and fails in Europe), The Centre for Independent Studies [page vi] last accessed on 16 November 2011 http://www.politiquessociales.net/IMG/pdf/pm-121.pdf

x Hartwich, O.M. 2011 Policy Monographs Population and Growth Series 4: Selection, Migration and Integration: Why Multiculturalism Works in Australia (and fails in Europe), The Centre for Independent Studies [page 3] last accessed on 18 April 2012

xi Levels, M. & Dronkers, J. & Kraaykamp, G. 2008 ‘Immigrant Children’s Educational Achievement in Western Countries: Origin, Destination, and Community Effects on Mathematical Performance,’ American Sociological Review 73 (October 2008), pages 835–853

xii ‘Table 10.1 Employment status of civilian population aged 15 years or more, by birthplace, 2010-11’ – [Source: Labour Force, Australia (6291.0) Australian Bureau of Statistics] in DIAC 2012 Trends in Migration: Australia 2010-11, Annual submission to the OECD’s Continuous Reporting System on Migration (SOPEM) pg 95 http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/trends-in-migration/trends-in-migration-2010-11.pdf

xiii Hartwich, O.M. 2011 Policy Monographs Population and Growth Series 4: Selection, Migration and Integration: Why Multiculturalism Works in Australia (and fails in Europe), The Centre for Independent Studies [page 6] last accessed on 16 November 2011 http://www.politiquessociales.net/IMG/pdf/pm-121.pdf

xiv Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012 Australian Demographic Statistics – September Quarter 2011, published 29 March 2012, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0

xv Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 ‘Population, Growth Rate and Rank of Selected Countries (a)’ in Australian Demographic Statistics – June Quarter 2011, 19 December 2011 pg 10 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3101.0Main%20Features3Jun%202011?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3101.0&issue=Jun%202011&num=&view

xvi DIAC 2012 ‘Table 11.1 Migrants’ net impact on the Australian Government Budget by visa category 2010-11’ [Source: Access Economics and DIAC Migrants’ Fiscal Impact Model] in Trends in Migration: Australia 2010-11 Annual submission to the OECD’s Continuous Reporting System on Migration, pg 110 http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/trends-in-migration/trends-in-migration-2010-11.pdf

xvii McDonald, P. & Temple, J. 2010 Immigration, Labour Supply and Per Capita Gross Domestic Product; Australia 2010-2050, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute ANU, page 43 http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/research/_pdf/labour-supply-gdp-2010-2050.pdf

xviii McDonald, P. & Temple, J. 2010 Immigration, Labour Supply and Per Capita Gross Domestic Product; Australia 2010-2050, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute ANU, page 45 http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/research/_pdf/labour-supply-gdp-2010-2050.pdf

xix McDonald, P. & Temple, J. 2010 Immigration, Labour Supply and Per Capita Gross Domestic Product; Australia 2010-2050, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute ANU, page 45 http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/research/_pdf/labour-supply-gdp-2010-2050.pdf

xx McDonald, P. & Temple, J. 2010 Immigration, Labour Supply and Per Capita Gross Domestic Product; Australia 2010-2050, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute ANU, page 39

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/research/_pdf/labour-supply-gdp-2010-2050.pdf

xxi Productivity Commission, Population and Migration: Understanding the Numbers. Productivity Commission

research paper, December 2010

xxii ABS Cat no. 3412.0 - Migration, Australia, 2008-09

xxiii Australian Bureau of Statistics 2007 ‘Migration: Permanent Additions to Australia’s Population’ in Australian Social Trends 2007, published 7 August 2007, last accessed 17 November 2011 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/928AF7A0CB6F969FCA25732C00207852?opendocument

xxiv Department of Immigration and Citizenship 2011Migration Program Statistics, last viewed 16 November 2011, http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/statistical-info/visa-grants/migrant.htm

xxv Connolly, E. & Davis, K. & Spence, G. 2011 ‘Trends in Labour Supply’, The Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin June Quarter 2011, last accessed 17 November 2011 http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2011/jun/1.html

Department of Immigration and Citizenship 2011 Subclass 457 State/Territory Summary Report 2010-11 to 30 June 2011, last accessed 17 November 2011 http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/pdf/457-stats-state-territory-jun11.pdf

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Speech : Transcript - Doorstop interview

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - Doorstop interview

Thursday 19th April 2012

SUBJECTS: Coalition’s renewed calls for an independent inquiry into Labor’s border protection failure on guns, latest illegal boat arrival

EandOE

MORRISON:
It is absolutely clear that the biggest policy betrayal of the Gillard Government is the carbon tax but without doubt their biggest policy failure is on our borders. I want to address two issues today that go to those border failures. Firstly on the issue of gun smuggling to Australia and secondly on the arrival of yet another illegal boat to Australia. These guns, 220 of these Glock pistols, came through the Sylvania Waters Post Office in the last few months. Following that we also had NSW Police finding parts that went to more than 20 of these AR-15 assault rifles near Port Macquarie and in Kingsgrove. We have also seen in reports today in QLD of reports of mail order guns coming into that state. Around ten years ago when he was Premier of NSW, Bob Carr, now Minister in the Gillard Government, said that the guns being traded, the guns on our streets have come through porous borders. Now that statement is more true today than it ever has been under the Gillard Government’s soft approach when it comes to border protection.
The Gillard Government has gutted Customs in terms of its funding. It has reduced Customs and have refused to restore the funding despite the Coalition’s calls but what I want to announce today is the Coalition once again says Customs must be investigated with an independent inquiry as well as Australia Post, into the smuggling of guns into Australia that went undetected. The smuggling of guns into Australia has been revealed by our state police forces, not by our Customs agents. This government has tried to spin itself into a lather in recent weeks trying to explain away their own failings but the one question they won’t ask is how did these guns, whether it is the Glock pistol of the AR-15s, how they actually got into Australia on their watch. These are the questions that need to be answered by the Gillard Government and these are the questions they refuse to have asked through an independent inquiry.
We have also had the revelations of Customs officers themselves being investigated for corruption as well as Customs officers who have been dismissed for such behavior since 2010. So whatever the government might try to spin out there or however many photo opportunities they may want to have in mail centres or weapon seizures, what they are not doing is actually asking the hard questions of themselves and their own agencies and that is why the Coalition insists on an independent inquiry into just how these guns got into Australia, how they got past Customs, how they got into suburban post offices as mail order guns that end up on our streets and end up having the sort of impact that we are seeing not just in Sydney but around the country.
The other point I want to make today is the arrival of yet another illegal boat to Australia. Almost 300 boats have now arrived since the Labor Government abolished the proven measures of the Howard Government. 5,000 of those arrivals have occurred in just this financial year alone which is well up on last year and the year has yet to be completed. So it just goes further to the evidence of how the Gillard Government’s record on border protection is one of complete policy failure from the ridiculous East Timor proposal, the failure of the Malaysian people swap and the complete capitulation to the Greens last November when they embarked on their let them in, let them out policy which has seen over 3,000 people turn up since late November.
So they are the matters before the Gillard Government today. They should immediately instate this independent inquiry into Customs and Australia Post on their guns failures and restore the proven policies of the Coalition on our borders to stop the boats.

QUESTION:
Are you talking about a Parliamentary inquiry into the gun issue?

MORRISON:
We called for an independent inquiry to be undertaken by someone of the stature of Mick Keelty who understands the workings of Australian Customs and the Federal agencies. It is incumbent we have someone who can go in, get behind the curtain and see exactly what is going wrong. There is no doubt we need more intelligence when it comes to gun smuggling operations but the intelligence this Minister needs is the intelligence about what is going wrong in his own Customs agency and that is the question he refuses to ask because he does not want to hear the answer.

QUESTION:
There has been a bit of a spree in Sydney of tit for tat shootings, do you think it doesn’t help that some many guns are coming through our borders?

MORRISON:
Well criminals want new guns and the only new guns and clean guns they can get access to are the ones that come across our borders. So whether it is in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide of Perth or wherever these crimes are occurring with guns, the weapon of choice of criminal gangs are clean guns and new guns and they only come across our borders and whether it is what we saw at Sylvania Waters or up near Port Macquarie or Kingsgrove or what is being reported in South East QLD, these guns are coming across our borders and it is up to the Gillard Government to undertake a full independent inquiry into just how that is happening through Customs and Border Protection and Australia Post.

QUESTION:
Inaudible

MORRISON:
We want to know how the guns got across the border. It is a simple and straight forward question. Of all the measures that have gone out there with the government’s flurry of announcements and photo opportunities, not once have they said they will review just how these 220 Glock pistols, how the parts for the more than 20 AR-15 assault rifles actually got over under their radar, got across on their watch and got onto our streets. So it is imperative for this Minister to understand how that actually happened. Until he actually can get that intelligence then he frankly doesn’t know what he is dealing with.

QUESTION:
Police have made these busts and stopped a few hundred guns, is that it?

MORRISON:
Well the NSW Police, the Queensland, Victorian and Western Australian Police are doing an outstanding job in exposing what is a gaping hole on our borders for guns to come into this country. The guns can’t get on our streets if they don’t come across our borders. The State Police are doing their bit, they are the ones investigating these crimes and are finding the holes. But only the Federal Government can plug those holes on our borders and they can’t do that if they are unwilling to ask the basic questions about how did those guns, those Glock pistols ended up in the Sylvania Waters Post Office and onto our streets? It is a question they refuse to ask and they remain with their head buried in the sand.

QUESTION:
It has been reported that at least one gun has been involved in quite a few of the shootings recently. Is there any suggestion that has come from overseas or is this just a gun that has been in circulation for years and years?

MORRISON:
Well in the months ahead I am sure the source of these guns being used in these crimes will be revealed. It is clear also that the guns that gangs want to use are guns that are clean, guns that don’t have a history, guns that are new and the only place those guns come from is overseas and across our borders. These guns coming across our borders present a very real threat to communities all around Australia, not just here in NSW and that is why it is imperative that we get to the bottom of what the failings were, who was responsible for those failings and how those failings are going to be addressed. All we are getting at the moment from the government is press and photo opportunities rather than actually hard measures to find out what went wrong. Even the most recent announcement of the new intelligence unit in Customs, no announcement of the funding, no announcement of the strength of that force, no announcement on what it will detract from other aspects and activities of Customs. This is an agency that has had its funding cut by $58.1 million, 340 staff have been cut from border protection under this government and we have seen the number of air cargo screenings drop by 75%. That is a record of this government and we need to understand how that has contributed to the failings we are also seeing on our borders with these guns.

Media Release : More boat arrivals highlight Julia Gillard's biggest policy failure

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The arrival of the latest illegal boat, with 57 people on board, highlights that just as the carbon tax is Julia Gillard’s biggest policy betrayal, border protection is Julia Gillard’s biggest policy failure, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison said today.

“Julia Gillard’s list of failures include her East Timor farce, failed five for one Malaysia people swap and her capitulation to the Greens last year with her ‘let them in, let them out’ policy of community release and bridging visas for boat arrivals, after which more than 3,000 people have so far arrived,” Mr Morrison said.

“Labor’s border protection failures have resulted in over 5,000 people arriving on illegal boats this financial year alone, more arrivals than last year and with ten weeks still left to go.

“Labor’s only response to their failure is to blame the Opposition, rather than be accountable for their own decisions. Blaming the Opposition is not a policy, just another lame excuse from a government that has given up.

“With over 16,600 people arriving on 298 illegal boats on Labor’s watch, these excuses are an admission of failure.

“The Labor Government has offered people smugglers a more attractive business model at every opportunity with more boats and more people the result.

“This is why only the Coalition can be trusted to implement proven border protection policies to stop illegal boat arrivals and get our border protection and immigration regimes back under control,” Mr Morrison said.

Media Release : Coalition renews call for independent inquiry into border failures as gun crime escalates

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The Coalition has renewed calls for an independent inquiry to be established into the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and Australia Post over the Government’s border failures that continue to result in guns finding their way across our border and onto our streets, Acting Shadow Minister for Customs and Border Protection, Scott Morrison said today.

“The problem of guns on our streets and guns crimes that follow are national issues for one simple reason – the guns are coming across our borders,” Mr Morrison said.

“Ten years ago now Senator Carr agreed when he said as NSW Premier ‘the guns on our streets, the guns being traded, the guns that form this black market have got into Australia through pretty porous borders’.

“These events demand an independent inquiry to get to the bottom of what has gone wrong at Customs and Australia Post to allow these guns across our borders. The Government’s refusal to establish such an inquiry is indicative of a Government who, just like on illegal boat arrivals, does not want to confront the failings occurring on their watch.

“In response to the increase in gun violence, Labor have been spinning themselves into a lather of tough talk and photo opportunities, rather than asking the hard questions of themselves and the agencies they are responsible for about how these guns have found their way across our borders.

“At the same time they seek to shield themselves behind the hard of work of state police forces who are the ones who have exposed the gaping holes in our borders that Labor refuses to acknowledge.

“In recent months NSW Police have revealed the importation of up to 220 Glock pistols into Australia through a suburban post office in Sylvania Waters, with Customs completely oblivious to their arrival.
“This was followed by NSW Police locating and seizing parts for more than 20 AR-15 assault rifles and approximately 20,000 bullets and casings, at South Arm near Port Macquarie and in suburban Kingsgrove.

“Meanwhile more than 24 Customs officers are being investigated for corruption or misconduct while 15 officers have been dismissed for such conduct since 2010, including one official with close ties to a Sydney based Middle Eastern crime family.

“The guns are also making their way into Queensland, where there are reports of criminals using mail order guns from South East Asia.

“Labor wants to investigate everybody and anything other than their own agencies. None of the measures announced by the Government so far are designed to find out what went wrong and who was responsible.

“After Labor initially rejected our call for an Inquiry into Customs and Australia Post, the Coalition has sought answers on over 200 matters in questions on notice in the Parliament in an attempt to get answers on how Customs and Australia Post are failing to stop illegal gun smuggling. Almost four weeks since they were asked, not one question has so far been answered by the Government.

“The Government’s establishment of a Customs Firearms Intelligence and Targeting Team, comes without any details of funding, the number of officers involved or the impact on other areas of Customs’ operations.

“The Public has every right to be concerned and cynical about these announcements; given Customs have already been the subject of budget cuts by Labor.

“Labor has cut 340 staff from Customs and more than $58 million from their budget, resulting in a decrease in air cargo screening from more than 60% under the Coalition to less than 10%. More importantly, Labor is not doing anything to reverse these cuts, as the Coalition has pledged to do and give Customs back the resources they need to do their job.

“We do need greater intelligence into smuggling operations, whether it is guns, drugs or people. However, the key intelligence that Ministers need to know is what is going on at Customs and Australia Post that has allowed these mail order guns to find their way to Australian post offices, without detection, and onto our streets.

“While Labor continues to leave their head in the sand about potentially serious problems inside Customs itself, our borders remain exposed.

“Our border protection agencies need our support to do their job. This means giving them the resources they need and facing up to any corruption that may be occurring that compromises their efforts and the integrity of the good name of their agency,” Mr Morrison said.

Speech : Transcript - 2GB Ray Hadley Show

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - 2GB Ray Hadley Show

Monday 16th April 2012

SUBJECT: The risks and flaws of Labor’s Complementary Protection legislation

E and OE

HADLEY:
Now before I spoke to Scott Morrison, the Shadow Immigration Minister, I had a conversation with a gentleman calling himself Robert. Robert works within the system and he sent me another letter today – Ray, I refer to the conversation I had with you on Friday the 13th. These new laws need a bit of explaining- perhaps you can run this document past Scott Morrison. This is how the new nutty scheme works – The Migration Act contains the necessary information. Firstly look up Section 501. The current law known as the Character Test subsection 501-7 defines what is termed a substantial criminal record, which may lead to the cancellation or refusal of a visa. This provision applies to persons sentenced to imprisonment of 12 months or more, persons sentenced to 2 years or more with a total term of 2 years or more. However since the 23 March this year, the new weaker character test applies for the purpose of processing the protection harm applicants as to the date of the visa application and the date of the visa decision. So instead of applying the substantial criminal record test, the new terms are limited to offences involving violence, drug offences, serious damage to property and for Australian offences whilst in detention, offences relating to escape or the manufacture and distribution of weapons however the crimes will also be considered serious if the crime is punishable by a life sentence or a mandatory or fixed sentence of not less than three years or imprisonment for a maximum term of not less than three years. He goes on to raise a whole range of issues but says this; the current procedures created a possibility Ray of introducing serious and established criminals into our country, either after being granted bridging visas whilst applications are being processed or as residents. I’ve not examined even more profoundly serious issues, namely how it is conceivable for the government to undertake credible criminal checks when the applicant destroys all evidence as to their identity as they do when they arrive here by boats. We had another 19 people on a boat over the weekend. Scott Morrison, good morning.

MORRISON:
G’day Ray.

HADLEY:
I know you’ve done a little bit of work on this over the course of the weekend so tell me – Robert as he calls himself, is he up the right path here?

MORRISON:
Well there are two things operating – he sort of is and sort of isn’t. Section 501 deals with the Character Test and that means the Minister can cancel or refuse to issue any visa to any one who has a criminal conviction carrying a 12 month sentence or more or he can still apply the general character test which doesn’t require a criminal conviction at all.

HADLEY:
So are you saying it’s a combination of the old law and the new law?

MORRISON:
It is. What the Minister has done is lowered the bar for the officials to go and grant these complementary protection visas.

HADLEY:
Oh I see but he reserves the right to bring the bar back up for his purposes?

MORRISON:
Yes and the problem with this minister is he never applies that and his predecessor was even worse. I mean, you remember the Taufahema case with Senator Evans, and this Minister’s not much better.

HADLEY:
As weak as water. That’s in the High Court – one of those matters at the moment.

MORRISON:
They delegate all these things out to the Department and like Robert in this situation is dealing with the laws in front of him and those laws are applying a lower bar –

HADLEY:
So in other words, it’ll be difficult for officers inside Immigration to refuse it and they’ll have to rely upon intervention by the Minister if it is refused and they go to admin appeals, they’ll rely upon him at the last hurdle to say no, you can’t stay here.

MORRISON:
That’s right or they would rely on him in the first instance to just rule it out on character grounds before and not even delegate it to them but that doesn’t happen under this government; this Minister and his predecessor never take those decisions. He threatened to use the general character test on everyone who rioted and burned the place down at Villawood and Christmas Island and not one person, not one, has had their visa cancelled under the character test.

HADLEY
Ok go back to this other one – complementary protection. Now what does that mean? It’s pages and pages of it here in the media sheet but in general terms, what does it mean? This change to complementary protection?

MORRISON:
Well it means if you’re not a refugee, you can claim for a visa on other grounds, on the grounds that you might be tortured or under the Convention of the rights of the child or other civil liberties issues so it provides a broader pathway for you to claim a place here in Australia. Now there were only six people in the previous year who’d actually qualified and under the way the system used to work – and the way it used to work was this. Where someone was identified through all those who are coming through, who may have had a fair dinkum claim under these various other conventions, they were brought to the attention of the Minister and the Minister would grant a visa. Now to give you an idea of the scale of this, there was over about 430 odd cases that were brought to the attention and only six were found to be fair dinkum. Now that’s – so there was no one who was missing out under our genuine obligations previously under the old system. What this government has done is they’ve created a whole new pathway for people to make claims, then take them into the courts and this was where Robert is spot on. That means the courts then start deciding what is harm, what is a serious offence and all of these issues and there could well be a conflict between the power of the Minister under section 501 and the powers under Section 36 as well so it creates another legal quagmire and just another example of how this government just doesn’t get it.

HADLEY:
So you can drive a Kenworth through the middle of it.

MORRISON:
Well it’s great news for David Manne. He’ll be able to get a lot more taxpayer funding to take cases to court, including to the High Court I suspect, as a result of this. It’s great news for lawyers, it’s great news for those who want to sort of rort our system and it’s bad news for Australian taxpayers and people who are fair dinkum about our genuine obligations under the Conventions which are provided to help genuine people not those who are trying to dodge the system.

HADLEY:
So people understand it – complementary protection is the term used to describe a category of protection for people who are not refugees.

MORRISON:
That’s right and there are a small number of cases where we actually do owe an obligation but not by what is determined here.

HADLEY:
So that means everyone who arrives on a boat now will claim complementary protection –

MORRISON:
Yes.

HADLEY:
Because – I mean, the test has always been that they get from where they were on a plane from Afghanistan to Indonesia and well they have escaped from that regime so to speak so they’re not refugees because then they – it’s their first port of call being Indonesia, not Australia, nor New Zealand in some cases but it’s Indonesia – that’s where they’re no longer in danger. They can stay there if they want, if they get on a leaky boat, they throw the passport out the window, out the porthole and then arrive here with no papers and then we get to the next problem; we don’t know who they are so we can’t do the character test in any case because they tell us who they think they want to be and we’re in strife.

MORRISON:
That’s a very good summary of it, Ray. That’s how it’ll work and this is why we opposed the Bill last year.

HADLEY:
OK.

MORRISON:
There are a whole range of things in this bill – interestingly, the minister made not one mention of this change to the three years in his speech to the House when he introduced the bill but regardless, the bill was a bill that wasn’t being supported by us, it was supported not surprisingly by the Greens and the crossbenchers so -

HADLEY:
Oakeshott and Windsor have done it to us again.

MORRISON:
And the Greens, they’re all there. All part of one big bunch.

HADLEY:
Ok thanks Scott. Shadow Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison.

Ends

Speech : Transcript - Bolt Report

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - Bolt Report

Sunday 15th April 2012

SUBJECTS: Labor’s failed border protection policies, illegal boat arrivals, Craig Thomson’s failure to co-operate with NSW Police, Bob Brown

EandOE

BOLT:
Ok let’s add up the cost of Labor weakening our border laws. First, more than 16,000 more boat people. Second, at least $1 billion a year in extra costs. Third, 600 boat people who have drowned at sea. When about 50 died off Christmas Island I warned that Labor’s soft policies were luring people to their deaths but guess who called on me to resign for being so rude? Rude to worry about the dead, the people who paid most the price of Labor’s compassion?

Joining me now is the Opposition’s immigration spokesman Scott Morrison. Scott thanks for joining me. I want to talk to you about three of the boats this week before we move onto Bob Brown. First, the Chinese boat. Doesn’t this show that when we talk about asylum seekers the truth is that more often than not we are actually talking about illegal immigrants shopping around?

MORRISON:
Well 90% of those who make onshore applications for asylum who come from China are rejected in the first instance and what I highlighted this week about this vessel – and sure we are all concerned about them making another dangerous voyage – but what we have is asylum seekers effectively shipping around for the jurisdiction, country shopping if you like, for where they think their claim is best going to be advanced and under this government’s policies certainly what is an exception for someone seeking to go to New Zealand in Australia’s case it is the rule. I mean there are over 16,500 people who have turned up under this government’s failed policies that prove that.

BOLT:
But it is interesting too isn’t it that the Chinese on board this boat were quite aware of our and New Zealand’s asylum systems and chose between them. This shows us very clearly I think that what we do sends a signal that is then factored into decisions made by people smugglers and the people who use them?

MORRISON:
There is no doubt about that. Asylum seekers are very aware of what the various regimes are and they do have a good look around at what they think is going to be their best chance. There was the situation of the 120 that were taken ashore in Indonesia recently where one of them made it very clear they were aware of the government’s new community release and bridging visa policy. This was a policy announced by the government late last year, basically ‘let them in, let them out’ at the behest of the Greens and more than 3,000 people have turned up since then as a result.

BOLT:
Well that second boat that we are talking about, the 120 that had to turn back and are back in Indonesia. That was largely Iranian and Afghan refugees, all single men, 120 of them. Why from Iran? Is that something to do with the fact that they know, they come here, claim asylum, if we say no Iran won’t take them back if they don’t want to go?

MORRISON:
Well I think that is an element of it but Iranian asylum seekers have been a bigger part of the traffic over the last 18 months or so and in the inquiry into detention network and the riots in particular that group were particularly identified by the Department themselves as being a much more problematic group within the detention network. These are people who are particularly coming from middle class professional backgrounds in many cases and they have got the cash to get on a boat and they are paying that and the Department officials themselves have actually raised concerns about a sense of entitlement.

BOLT:
Well it seems again to be exploiting a loophole. Third boat, the one we think may have included people who had died, 60 people has now since been found again in Indonesia…

MORRISON:
Thankfully.

BOLT:
I was struck by the fact the alarm was first raised by Australia’s United Hazara Association, people from the same region, they had been in phone contact with the boat right up to when they suddenly broke contact and also the Refugee Action Coalition also in phone contact. It seems to me very odd we have these groups in Australia managing or liaising or somehow knowing, up to the point of almost arrival, what is happening.

MORRISON:
Well I think that is right and the fact they can get in contact with Ian Rintoul, I mean I don’t have his mobile number but apparently a lot of people getting on boats do. I think this raises a real issue. Before the tragic incidents of SIEV 221 we know that family members were in contact with those who were getting on those boats and my plea to anyone in Australia who knows about a vessel leaving Indonesian or knowing about people getting on a vessel in Indonesia is to contact the Australian Federal Police. That is what we should be doing to stop this trade. Yes we need to change the dreadful policies that have been so unsuccessful under this government but increasingly we need to do what we need to do in the region in seeking to interrupt and intercept. That is an important part of the policy as well but it needs the cooperation from people in Australia who know what’s gong on.

BOLT:
I would have thought so.

MORRISON:
Not facilitating it, stopping it.

BOLT:
Look I am running out of time. Two quick things before you go. Craig Thomson is refusing to talk to NSW Police investigating his alleged use of a credit card when he was National Secretary of the Health Services Union. Isn’t it strange that a man who says he is innocent and we must presume it, won’t co-operate?

MORRISON:
Well this is a disgrace. Julia Gillard must insist that Craig Thomson co-operates with the NSW Police. He is a Member of Parliament, there should be no lesser standard applied to him just simply because Julia Gillard is relying on his tainted vote for a tainted government. Julia Gillard must demand today that he co-operate with the NSW Police immediately.

BOLT:
And Bob Brown retiring, have you got a fond farewell for him?

MORRISON:
Well I mean Bob Brown has been running the asylum policy for Labor for the last four years. Bob Brown will go down in history as the man who was the other Prime Minister of Australia under the Gillard Government and despite his clear political abilities whoever is running the Greens they will always be running Labor and I think that will remain into the future whether it is Christine Milne or whoever else. It is the Greens who are running Labor, not just on asylum policy but on carbon tax and goodness knows what else and the Australian people know it and are sick of it.

BOLT:
Scott Morrison thank you so much for joining me.

MORRISON:
Thank you Andrew.

END

Media Release : 10,000 people arrive on illegal boats under PM Gillard

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The arrival of the latest illegal boat, with 19 people on board, is the fourth boat to arrive this week and means more than 10,000 people have arrived since Julia Gillard was first appointed Prime Minister, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison said today.

"When Julia Gillard was first appointed as Prime Minister she promised to smash the people smugglers business model. Instead, the Gillard Government has become the people smugglers business model, with a record of failure on our borders even greater than her predecessor Kevin Rudd,” Mr Morrison said.

“More than 10,000 people arriving on 156 boats is proof that Julia Gillard has taken things from bad to worse on our borders,” he said.

“Just like her betrayal over the carbon tax Julia Gillard deceived Australians on border protection at the last election and our borders are open to smugglers like never before.

“Meanwhile Minister Bowen continues in denial about the success of John Howard's proven border measures that stopped the boats, preferring the policies of the Greens.

“These latest arrivals also follow revelations yesterday of another shipment of illegal guns coming across our borders and hitting Sydney streets.

“Whether it's on boats or guns Labor continues to fail and all we hear is excuse after excuse.

“Excuses are not policies, they're an admission of failure and a clear sign that Labor has simply given up on our borders," Mr Morrison said.

Media Release : Over 3,000 arrivals since Labor embraced Greens solution

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The arrival of the latest illegal boat, with 77 people on board, means more than 3,000 people have now arrived since Labor embraced the Greens solution of community release and bridging visas last November, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison said today.

“We have had more than 3,000 arrivals since Labor embraced the Greens solution last November of community release and bridging visas, and the message has gotten out,” Mr Morrison said.

“No wonder Mr Brown is retiring, he has got everything he’s ever wanted out of Labor,” he said.

“Asylum policy has been a one way street between the Greens and Labor, with Labor completely capitulating to all of Bob Brown’s demands.

“We have had more people turn up in the last week than in last six years of the Howard Government, yet Labor continues to opt for the Greens policies on asylum seekers rather than the proven polices of John Howard that they abolished.

“This is a problem of the Government’s own making. It’s clear Labor are not prepared to stand up to the Greens and have adopted the political tactic of trying to blame the Opposition for their failures, as a way to cover over their weakness.

“Labor’s embrace of the Greens policies on asylum seekers has supercharged the people smugglers’ business model, increasing people smugglers profits, increasing the risk to people making the dangerous boat journey to Australia and further undermining the integrity of our humanitarian program.

“Meanwhile reports on the ongoing search for a suspected asylum seeker vessel reportedly missing off Indonesia are of great concern and a terrible reminder about the risks associated with these terrible boat journeys and why we need to return to policies that work.

“Our thoughts today are with everyone involved in the rescue. As this occurred in Indonesian waters, we are supportive of any assistance provided by the Australian Government to assist the Indonesian Government,” Mr Morrison said.

Media Release : Boat arrivals double in 2012 as 255 more people arrive

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The arrival of 255 people overnight on two illegal boats means boat arrivals are up more than 100% so far in 2012, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said today.

“Labor have removed every brick in the wall of border protection they inherited from the Howard Government,” Mr Morrison said.

“Since Labor capitulated to the Greens in late November last year, and introduced their ‘let them in, let them out policy’ of mainstream community release, with bridging visas and work rights for single males, the number of boat arrivals to Australia has surged,” he said.

“So far this year, 1,818 people have arrived on 23 boats, compared to 857 people on 14 boats over the same period in 2011. This is an average of more than 550 people per month.

“At this rate, we can expect this year’s illegal boat arrivals to return to the record levels experienced in 2010.

“Asylum seekers are well aware of the latest softening in border policy by Labor, as was confirmed in media reports of comments by asylum seekers in Indonesia rescued from a vessel on their way to Australia this week.

“Labor refuses to accept responsibility for their border protection failures and remains in denial about the need to restore the proven measures of the Coalition.

“Instead they continue to soften border policy and attempt to cover their tracks by blaming the Opposition.

“Blaming the Opposition for the Government’s own border failures is not a policy, it is just another lame excuse from a Government that has given up on border protection,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Keenan said: “People smugglers would have made $2.5 million over the past 24 hours on the back of Labor's failed border protection policies.

“With such large amounts of money at stake they will not quit until they understand that Australia has an administration that will do what it takes to close them down.

“They have tested Labor and prevailed on every single occasion.

“They continue to be emboldened by Labor's continued failure as evidenced by the latest two illegal arrivals carrying more than 250 people.

“As the boats continue to stream through our borders at such a rapid rate, the hard working men and women of the Border Protection Command will receive no break as they continue to face increased strain and lack of resources to deal with Labor’s border protection crisis.

“When you strip resources from the vital frontline agencies, like Labor has, then you open our borders up to penetration from the people smuggling syndicates.

“Sadly excuse after excuse is all Labor has to offer the Australian people as they refuse to reinstate the Coalition’s proven policies of offshore processing on Nauru, Temporary Protection Visas and turning the boats around when it is safe to do so,” Mr Keenan said.

Speech : Transcript - 2GB Afternoons Warren Moore

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - 2GB Afternoons Warren Moore

Wednesday 11th April 2012

SUBJECTS: the highest number of illegal arrivals in a single day under Labor

E and OE

MOORE:
Here we go again. Overnight 255 people on two illegal boats arrived in Australian waters. It means boat arrivals are up more than one hundred percent so far in 2012. The situation’s spiralling out of control. 1,818 people arrived on 23 boats compared to 857 on 14 boats over the same period in 2011 as if that wasn’t bad enough, that’s around 550 people per month. I don’t really know where to begin with this. Opposition spokesperson for Immigration Scott Morrison joins us on the program. Thanks for your time, Mr Morrison.

MORRISON:
Thanks Warren, good to be with you.

MOORE:
I tell you it’s the same lingo, isn’t it? A different day, same lingo that’s been going on it seems now for years and particularly for the last year or so with the Opposition being blamed for not supporting the Malaysian solution.

MORRISON:
Well this Government refuses to take responsibility for any of their failures. They are reaping what they’ve sown here. They’ve literally removed every brick in the wall that John Howard built on border protection that was inherited by this government and now almost 16,500 people have turned up on 295 boats and 255 of those people turned up last night in the single biggest day of arrivals under this Government and blaming the Opposition for its own failures isn’t a policy, it’s just another lame excuse from a Government that’s just given up.

MOORE:
Well there’s no doubt – they are the government, aren’t they? They are the ones who have to come up with a policy that works, you can’t blame it on anyone else.

MORRISON:
Well and particularly given they abolished the policies that did work – that’s why this whole thing has happened and they just stubbornly refuse to restore those policies and they throw this Malaysian thing up as an option that’s a failure, it’s bad policy, it’s not supported by the Parliament and they should adopt policies that are supported and that would see the Coalition’s policies restored. We could have it up and running this afternoon.

MOORE:
Having talked so much about this and heard so much about this last year because it was such a major issue and justifiably so, with that in mind, the figure that is so alarming is that boat arrivals are as I said in the introduction, are up 100% so far in 2012. How is the immigration system ever going to cope with this sort of influx?

MORRISON:
Well what the Government has decided to do is just let everybody out. They’ve just given up. Since they announced their ‘let them in, let them out’ policy at the end of November last year, which was basically fully and wholly adopting the policies of the Greens, we had the biggest Summer of boats on record and we’ve had a more than 100% increase so far this year as a result. Now that’s putting people on bridging visas into the community, giving them work rights, community detention, housing start-up packages, all of this and we saw yesterday up in Indonesia one of those who was on the vessel that was rescued by the Singaporean boat and taken to Indonesia said in a report that he was aware of the Government’s new policies, their softer policies. Now this Government just doesn’t seem to get it. If they keep softening the policies, the boats will keep coming and –

MOORE:
Well that whole Indonesian situation yesterday was quite remarkable from a media perspective. If you went to the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, he refused to comment, didn’t see it as his issue so you go to the Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare – he didn’t want to say anything either and neither did the Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr so it seems like with that sort of sensitive issue, as in Indonesia, they just duck for cover.

MORRISON:
Well Indonesia has an Australia problem when it comes to boat arrivals. The reason people are coming through Indonesia is because they want to come to Australia and when this government came to power in 2007, they had a system that was working and Indonesia didn’t have a problem. Now they do have a problem and it’s named Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.

MOORE:
Well I think the ironic part and most important part, and you did say something on this yesterday about that, is that Julia Gillard has, ever since she tried to tackle this issue, came up with this idea it’s a regional problem. Well I think what happened in Indonesia yesterday or this week proves it’s not a regional problem, is it? It’s an Australian problem?

MORRISON:
It is absolutely an Australia problem and we can’t expect I think the level of cooperation we would hope for out of regional neighbours when we’re not prepared to do what we need to do on our side of the fence. And that’s one of the things we’ll fix up if we’re elected and hopefully that is sometime soon so we can get this issue under control because it continues to spiral with continued failed policies. The other point I’d make is this, Warren, I mean often the comparison is made to what happened after the Vietnam War and the Indochinese refugee crisis. There is no comparison. These people in Indochina were directly fleeing their country where they were under direct persecution and they were literally going to the first country they could go to. Those refugees were being driven out of our own region. The people smuggling business was not the thing that was in operation there, people got on whatever boat they could and fled for their lives. Now to compare that with people getting on planes, paying people smugglers in one country, being met on arrival in another, being taken off to hotels, ferried on buses to boats in Indonesia and then on to Australia, I think is quite insulting to those who were in that very desperate situation back in the 1980s, late 70s.

MOORE:
Well you don’t have to be a geography expert to work that out, do you? Apart from the political situation and the different comparisons there, it’s just the fact of how many countries do you have to go past to get from Afghanistan as one example to Australia? Quite a few.

MORRISON:
Well that’s right. These asylum seekers are not being generated from within our region, they’re coming from a long way away and that’s the problem that we face. Now back in 1999-2001, the Howard Government was faced with a surge of arrivals and we did something about it. And over the last six years of our government, there was an average of just 50 people a year and three boats a year. I mean, that happens on any given day under this government.

MOORE:
We’re about half way through the Parliamentary term and we had talk before Christmas where things intensified the week up to Christmas, unfortunately in the face of tragedy. So is there any hope for talks again between the Government and the Opposition? Would there be any point, is there any hope that some of those stumbling blocks could be overcome?

MORRISON:
Well the Government isn’t prepared to just get on with the job of acting on their responsibilities and restoring the policies that worked. It’s their job to implement policies that work. The Coalition is under no obligation to support a failed government with failed policies. We’ll support good policies. The policies we know that worked and we’ll support them to do that today, you don’t need a conference to sort that out, they can have that support immediately. What they don’t want to do is admit that that was the reason they got themselves into this mess in the first place and they want to insist on this mad idea of the Malaysian people swap of five for one which completely abolishes all human rights protections for offshore processing in the Migration Act so I mean –

MOORE:
As much as that’s not an ideal policy, would in any way it be better than putting peoples’ lives at risk?

MORRISON:
We think it’s bad policy, Warren, and we won’t support it. The Government has our support to restore policies that worked. I mean, all Australians know that when the Government got rid of the policies that worked, that’s what’s created the crisis we’re in.

MOORE:
Well the figures speak for themselves, don’t they?

MORRISON;
Well they do speak for themselves and the Government’s in complete denial about it and a serious Government doesn’t go around blaming the Opposition for their own problems and that’s what this Government is doing and that’s why I think Australians have had a gutful of them.

MOORE:
Just on another issue quickly. It’s only ten people which in the light of the numbers we’re talking about is quite insignificant but very rare with these Chinese asylum seekers needing help because they’ve come into trouble in Darwin but saying look we don’t want to come to Australia, we want to go to New Zealand. Why don’t we just give them the supplies and send them on their way? From what I can gather, bipartisan-wise people think they should’ve been given the opportunity to just settle in Australia.

MORRISON:
Well they haven’t made a claim for asylum in Australia as far as I’m aware -

MOORE:
No they want to go to New Zealand.

MORRISON:
But I mean this highlights the difference with what we’re seeing today in people coming by boats and what we saw in times past. When you’ve got this country shopping idea, well we won’t claim asylum here, we’d rather do it there because we’ve got family there and we like their regime better than this regime. That’s not what happened with the Indochinese refugee crisis, people were fleeing for their lives, they were getting on anything that floated and they were getting out of there in great danger to themselves and Australia responded to that crisis rightly under the Fraser Government and to compare what happened under the Fraser Government to what we’re seeing now - I think there is no comparison. Look, whatever happens with these ten individuals if they’ve got claims, well you would’ve thought they would’ve made them and, you know, I suspect that may mean if they ever did get to New Zealand that they would be very hard-pressed to make their claim stack up.

MOORE:
Yeah I think that’s a very valid point as well. Thank you for your time as always.

MORRISON:
Thanks a lot Warren.

MOORE:
Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.

END

Speech : Transcript - Doorstop interview

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - Doorstop interview

Wednesday 11th April 2012

SUBJECTS: Arrival of 255 people on two illegal boats, Chinese asylum seekers in Darwin, Craig Thomson

EandOE

MORRISON:

The arrival of more than 250 people overnight makes it the largest single day of arrivals in the history of the Rudd/Gillard government. So far in 2012 the number of arrivals by boat has more than doubled on the same time last year. What we have here is a government that is reaping what it has sewn in terms of bad policy, failed policy and soft policy. Since the government announced their let them in, let them out policy late in November last year we have had almost 3,000 as a result of the government’s policies of bridging visas and community release. Knowledge of these policies is amongst the asylum seekers who are seeking to come to Australia. We had that confirmed yesterday with those taken ashore in Indonesia by the Singaporean vessel that rescued approximately 120 people who were on their way to Australia. They confirmed they had knowledge of that new softer policy of the Gillard Government. The government just simply doesn’t understand that if you continue to soften the policies the boats will continue to come. This has been their record ever since they started tearing down the wall of border protection that John Howard left them three and a half to four years ago. So we now have a situation where we have a government that is unwilling and unable to acknowledge their own policy failures. They are in denial. Their only response to more and more boats coming to Australia is to blame the Opposition. Blaming the Opposition is not a policy, it is just a lame excuse from a government that has basically given up when it comes to boat arrivals

QUESTION:

Inaudible

MORRISON:

Well the government can restore the proven policies of the Coalition this afternoon. It doesn’t require discussion it just requires a decision. If the government wants to stay wedded to failed and bad policy well they will have to talk to their coalition partners the Greens who seem to be driving the government’s agenda on this issue and have now for many years. So it really is a matter for the government to take responsibility for their own policy failures. Blaming the Opposition is not a policy, it is just a lame excuse from a government that has given up.

QUESTION:

Scott may I ask you something about the ten Chinese people that arrived in Darwin, whether they should continue on their journey to New Zealand or whether because of the trauma they have been through whether Australian immigration should cut them a deal.

MORRISON:

Well the issue with the ten Chinese who indicated they wanted to head to New Zealand is that it is a very rare circumstance. New Zealand is rarely, if ever, challenged with these sorts of issues because of their very large northern sea border. But what is an exception for New Zealand is certainly a rule for Australia. Whether they decide to seek asylum in Australia is a matter for them and I understand there are some suggestions they may seek to do that. It is a very perilous voyage at this time of year to go to New Zealand and obviously there are concerns for their safety but I think what it highlights is that we have occasions now where people coming on boats are in the business of country shopping when it comes to where they may seek to make their claim. That is not what I think is intended by the Refugee Convention. It was designed for those directly fleeing a place of persecution going across a border and seeking asylum. What we have now is an industry which takes people half way around the world on planes, puts them on buses, puts them in hotels and then puts them on boats en route to Australia.

QUESTION:

The one thing that you and the government both agree on is that you don’t want people risking their lives, getting on leaky boats. That’s exactly what these Chinese people are going to do if immigration does not cut them a deal, so you are happy then for them to put their lives at risk?

MORRISON:

Well what they do is a matter for them. If they seek to make a claim for asylum in Australia there is a process for them to go through so that is a matter of their own decision. Obviously they have been told about the very real risks of that sea journey and the matter will rest with them and their own decision.

QUESTION:

Inaudible

MORRISON:

This is a problem of the government’s own making. It was the government who decided to abolish the policies that worked, it is the government that refuses to restore those policies. This government has got themselves in this problem entirely of their own decisions and their own soft policies. As long as they choose to go down that path they will continue to have this problem. This is the government’s responsibility to fix and they refuse to do so. They refuse to even talk to their Greens partners if they want to install their own policies and they refuse to restore the policies of the Coalition that they abandoned.

QUESTION:

But isn’t any offshore processing situation better than none?

MORRISON:

The Coalition doesn’t support bad policy or failed policy. If the government wants to cling to bad, failed policies that is a matter for them. If they want to adopt proven policies of the Coalition then they will have our support.

QUESTION:

Inaudible

MORRISON:

Well the issue here is really about what the government is going to do about Craig Thomson. The ACTU have walked away from the HSU and yet Julia Gillard still stands by Craig Thomson. The only difference between Mr Thomson and any other officials from the HSU is that Ms Gillard is relying on the tainted vote of Mr Thomson to retain her tainted government and the government’s and other’s attempts to try and distract attention away from Mr Thomson is I think really trying to put up a smokescreen. The issue here is Julia Gillard continuing to provide her support to a tainted member of her government to prop up what is a tainted government as a result. That will continue to be the challenge for Ms Gillard to explain that to Australians who are just appalled by this whole tawdry affair.

QUESTION:

Inaudible

MORRISON:

Well Craig Thomson is a Member of the Australian Parliament and that matter can only really be resolved through an election. The question here is actually for Ms Gillard as Prime Minister and whether she is prepared to have in her ranks and have her government propped up by someone who is the subject of these very serious allegations and when there is a stench that is rising on a daily basis from the government’s handling of this issue. I think it just further undermines public trust and confidence in Ms Gillard’s judgement and shows why she cannot be trusted on this and so many other issues.

END

Media Release : New Zealand's boat exception is Australia's rule under Labor

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The journey of a boat load of asylum seekers to New Zealand is a rare event, unlike in Australia where it is a common occurrence under Labor’s failed polices, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison said today.

“New Zealand’s geographic isolation typically makes it uncommon for asylum seekers to make their way there by boat. The Pacific Ocean tends to provide a strong border for New Zealand,” he said.

“New Zealand’s exception, on this occasion, is Australia’s rule under Labor when it comes to illegal boat arrivals.

“The extreme case of a stop over in Darwin by Chinese nationals en route to New Zealand, where they will allegedly make an asylum claim, also demonstrates how our international asylum system is being abused by the practice of country shopping by asylum seekers.

“This practice of country shopping has far greater consequences for Australia, where we do not have the advantage of a boundless ocean on our northern border to also deter boat arrivals.

“There is a reason why more than 16,000 people have sought to come to Australia on 293 boats in the past three and half years - softer policies do not stop boats.

“Labor softened our border protection regime, making Australia a preferred destination for asylum applicants who have the means and mobility to get themselves here.

“These softer policies created an industry for people smugglers that the Coalition estimates has yielded more than $150 million, based on advice from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship that the average passage costs $10,000 per person.

“In relation to the vessel that arrived in Darwin, Australia should be talking with our friends in New Zealand, as friends should, in these circumstances. However, it is important to note that this is not an Australian flagged vessel, with an Australian crew, with any evidence to suggest that it has been organised by people smugglers operating out of Australia,” Mr Morrison said.

Media Release : Indonesia has an Australia problem on boats

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The stand off in Indonesia with Australia bound asylum seekers demonstrates that Indonesia has an ‘Australia problem’, when it comes to the influx of asylum seekers into our region, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison said today.

“The refusal of the Australia bound asylum seekers to disembark from their Singaporean rescue ship in Indonesia is yet another consequence of Labor’s border policy failures,” Mr Morrison said.

“Unlike the Indochinese refugee crisis of the eighties and early nineties, asylum seekers now seeking to come to Australia by boat are not sourced from our region, rather they are coming from Central Asia and the Middle East into our region,” he said.

“Our region does not have a regional problem, our region has an ‘Australia problem’ under Labor’s failed border polices.

“Indonesian President Yudhoyono referred to the draw of domestic polices that provide incentives for people to get on boats as the sugar on the table.

“When faced with a surge of asylum seeker arrivals from Central Asia and the Middle East on illegal boats between 1999 and 2001, the Howard Government implemented strong measures to ‘take the sugar off the table’.

“The Rudd and Gillard Governments have put the sugar back on the table, by weakening the strong regime they inherited and have remained in denial of the consequences ever since.

“Not only is Australia paying the price with a $3.9 billion budget blow out and the undermining of our own immigration programme, but our regional neighbours are also having to deal with the consequences.

“As long as Labor remains in denial and continues to support weak polices, Indonesia and other regional neighbours will have to continue to deal with this problem of Labor’s making,” Mr Morrison said.

Media Release : Over 250 people have arrived illegally in just five days under Labor

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The arrival of the latest illegal boat, with 53 people on board, is the fourth to arrive this week and means more than 250 people have arrived in just five days as people smugglers continue to ramp up their business in response to Labor's let then in let them out policy of community release, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said today.

"So far this year the number of people arriving by illegal boat has almost doubled on last year as people smugglers continue to react to Labor’s capitulation to the Greens on onshore release," Mr Morrison said.

"This time last year 804 people had arrived while this year 1,563 people have come over the same period.

"Hot off the heels of the biggest summer of boat arrivals on record, people smugglers are sending the loudest possible message that Labor's failed policies are the best incentive they have ever had," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Keenan said: “Another boat, another day of the Gillard Labor Government’s inaction and excuses on the border protection crisis they created.

“How desperate does the border protection chaos in our country have to get before the Minister for Immigration Chris Bowen and the Minister for Home Affairs Jason Clare, actually take the steps to rectify the situation by reinstating the Coalition’s proven immigration policies that they abolished when they came to office.

“It is clear now that the Gillard Government have resigned themselves to the idea of doing nothing but watch the problem escalate, a resolution that is set to cost the Australian taxpayer billions.

“With a budget blow-out of almost $4 billion and rising, it is now a case of how much more damage Labor will do before the Australian people vote them out of office,” Mr Keenan said.

Media Release : Another boat as more than 100 people arrive every week this year

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The arrival of the third illegal boat this week, with 71 people on board, means more than 1,500 people have arrived in little over three months, as people smugglers continue to take advantage of Labor’s ‘let them in, let them out’ policy on boat arrivals, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said today.

“This year an average of over 100 people are arriving by illegal boat every week as people smugglers continue to take advantage of Labor’s community release policy on boat arrivals which has effectively supercharged the people smuggling trade,” Mr Morrison said.

“Arrivals in 2012 are already up 87% on the same period last year thanks to Labor’s embrace of the Greens and 200 people have arrived this week alone,” he said.

Mr Keenan said: “It is a fundamental responsibility of the Commonwealth Government to protect Australia’s borders yet Labor has presided over a complete collapse of our border security.

“This has come about as a direct result of their deliberate policy decisions, when they came to Government, which dismantled the successful regime put in place by the Howard Government.

“At the time the Labor Party celebrated their “achievement” yet they failed to understand the consequences of what they had done and that it would reinvigorate people smuggling.

“Since that time Labor has had more policy positions than a reasonable person can remember and their latest ploy is to bury their heads in the sand and try to deflect blame for their failure.

“Creating the problem and then ignoring it whilst seeking to blame others is not governing - it is a fundamental failure to accept the responsibility that Government requires,” Mr Keenan said.

Media Release : 150 boat arrivals and 150 policy failures under PM Gillard

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The illegal arrival of the 150th boat since Julia Gillard became Prime Minister, with 84 people on board, is her 150th policy failure and exposes the deceit of her promise to smash the people smuggling trade before the last election, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said today.

“The 150th boat arrival under Julia Gillard’s failed leadership reminds Australians that just as she misled them over the carbon tax, her pledge to smash the people smugglers business model is just another broken promise,” Mr Morrison said.

“People smugglers have made more than $90 million since Julia Gillard became Prime Minister, and business remains as strong as ever. So far in 2012 the number of people to arrive by boat is up more than 75% on the same period last year.

“150 boat arrivals represent 150 policy failures by Julia Gillard as PM, according to the standard she set herself when on the odd occasion a boat arrived under the Howard Government’s proven border protection regime she said, ‘another boat arrival , another policy failure’.

“Rather than restore the polices that worked, Labor’s only response to boat arrivals is to blame the Opposition and seek to reinvent history about their longstanding opposition to offshore processing, that included abolishing the Pacific Solution. That’s not a policy, it’s just another lame excuse.

“The only vote that has been held in the Parliament on the Government’s Malaysian people swap bill was voted against by the Government, who refused to even have it debated. The Malaysian people swap bill is just an excuse to do nothing and blame the Opposition for the Government’s own failures,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Keenan said: “The interception of yet another illegal entry vessel in Australian waters once again highlights the disastrous state of our borders in which people smugglers are running a rampant business to the detriment and risk of people’s lives, all courtesy of the Gillard Government’s policy failures.

“How can this Labor Government justify ripping millions of dollars out of the key border protection agencies at a time when they are severely overstretched and under resourced thanks to the disastrous mismanagement of funding by the Gillard Government.

“The immense strain and pressure that has been placed on the men and women who work tirelessly in our frontline national security and border protection agencies is of great concern to the Coalition.

“How much longer will the Gillard Government continue to risk the lives of our Border Protection Command and those who continue to make this dangerous journey across our borders, through their consistent inaction and their inability to accept responsibility for the crisis they created?

“As Australia’s borders crumble around us it is essential that the Minister for Home Affairs, Jason Clare, starts to repair the extensive damage caused by Labor’s cuts. To start with the Minister must reinstate the $58.1 million that Labor gutted from Customs before he even begins to address the other multiple holes left in our border protection system,” Mr Keenan said.

Media Release : Over 16,000 arrivals on 290 boats and Labor still not listening

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The arrival of another illegal boat, with 45 people on board, means more than 16,000 people have now arrived on 290 illegal boats under Labor’s failed border protection policies, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said.

“Just like on the carbon tax, Labor remains locked in a severe state of policy denial on its border protection failures and are still not listening to the Australian people,” Mr Morrison said.

“The only difference between Anna Bligh and Julia Gillard is that, by comparison, Queenslanders actually liked Anna Bligh,” he said.

“Labor have received successive drubbings at the NSW and Queensland state elections because of their deceit, spin and incompetence. Australians are sending Labor a message that they simply won’t put up with this type of Government but it’s falling on deaf ears.

“This is no truer than with Labor’s failures on border protection, as yet another boat arrival demonstrates, with Labor crashing through the 16,000 arrival barrier, yielding more than $150 million for people smugglers.

“The government refuses to implement the policies that worked and boats continue to arrive as a result.

“This government can’t be trusted when it comes to border protection. They are engaged in deep policy envy because they have no proven policies of their own, only a litany of failure to their name.

“The government could restore any of the Coalition’s measures today and yet they are engaged in stubborn denial just as they are with the Queensland election results.

“Whether it is on border protection, the carbon tax or their waste or mismanagement, Labor simply don’t get it. You can’t lie to the Australian people and fail to protect our borders and expect the Australian people to give you a tick,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Keenan said: “Labor and their Ministers seem incapable of taking responsibility for the border crisis they created.

“Their response now to every boat arrival is to finger point at others rather than accept it is actually the job of the Government to address these issues,” he said.

“Labor are unable and ill equipped to govern and are more at home as a perpetual opposition than in taking decisions that are required by the national interest.

“It is of concern that the latest arrival was intercepted just off the Northern Territory coastline which is an indicator that Border Protection are struggling to do their job in light of the starvation of resources from the Labor Party.

“Boats arriving so close to Australian territory is bad for Australia but also dangerous for asylum seekers themselves.

“How can Labor justify ripping resources from our border protection agencies at a time when their policies have left those same agencies so overstretched?” Mr Keenan said.

Speech : Transcript - Sky News AM Agenda

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - Sky News AM Agenda

Monday 2nd April 2012

SUBJECTS: Nielsen Poll, ASIO security checks for illegal boat arrivals, UNHCR asylum seeker statistics

E and OE

GILBERT:
Joining me now from our Sydney CBD studios the Shadow Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison. Mr Morrison, thanks for your time, a lot to talk about in your area of responsibility. First of all I want to get your reaction to this latest Nielsen Poll, you’ve got to be feeling comfortable with these numbers?

MORRISON:
Well look I think Labor’s in complete denial when it comes to these polls that we’ve seen today. What we’re seeing in these polls today is that Labor just simply doesn’t get it. They got the message sent to them in Queensland the other week and they’ve been in denial about what that all meant. And what it all meant is when Labor lies to the electorate before an election, the Australian people get very, very hot under the collar about that and that’s the one thing they refuse to face up to in the face of these recent polls. Labor now, I think, are in the situation where they are literally scrambling from one day to the next, trying to understand what this all means for them but it’s – the truth is there, right in front of them. They lied to the electorate, their Government has shown a trail of incompetence and these are the same themes we saw in Queensland. It’s no surprise that the same poll today puts Labor in Queensland on 22 in Queensland – 22. And in NSW on 26. So that’s the verdict which the Australians keep registering with this Government but this Government continues to be in complete denial, I mean, they really did get the rough end of the Queensland pineapple the other week and they’ve gone around in complete denial about what it means. And rather, they’ve actually being triumphing and trumpeting the fact about their carbon tax, when their carbon tax is the big lie that the Australian people are trying to tell them is something they just won’t cop.

GILBERT:
What about the mining tax though? It seems the numbers have shifted on that front and a majority actually back the idea of taxing the big miners to provide a company tax for other businesses.

MORRISON:
Well I think on all of these issues there’s going to be a range of opinions but I think the key point that the Government is failing to listen to the Australian people on is on issues of cost of living, on issues of the impact of their carbon tax, on issues such as their failures on border protection which we’ll talk about in a minute. On all of these things the Government have closed their ears. They closed their ears in Queensland, they closed their ears in NSW and now the Government runs around oblivious I think to what’s happening around them and what Australian families are facing. I mean, just take the suggestion – Tony made the suggestion the other day that the Productivity Commission should look at more flexible arrangements in terms of how people arrange their child care which might include shift workers using nannies and the Government rejected it. Every time the Coalition puts up a policy, the Government completely rejects it. It really is relentless negativity from the Government on Coalition policy.

GILBERT:
Let’s get to border protection and yesterday you said it was absurd for a Parliamentary committee recommendation that asylum seekers who have an adverse security finding that they might have an appeal against the ASIO judgements or the security agency’s judgements. Why is that absurd? Is there no mechanism at all that can be established where people might have a right of appeal that keeps the security agencies work and judgements confidential?

MORRISON:
No I am not aware of one and I don’t think one does exist that we can meaningfully put in place in Australia. It may make the lawyers happy who are funded by the Australian taxpayer in all these issues but I don’t think it is the right way for Australia’s national security. We have had 20 times the incidents of negative findings - adverse security assessments for those who’ve arrived by boat versus the 66,000 other referrals that have been made by DIAC to ASIO. So we do have a particular issue here and I think it’s important the processes and intelligence and how that intelligence is interrogated needs to be very much a secure process and I don’t think there is a case to jeopardise that as the majority report of Labor and the Greens have suggested.

GILBERT:
What about the time limit suggestion? Do you agree in principle that asylum seekers should be kept in detention for as short a time as possible?

MORRISON:
Well of course people’s applications and assessments should be done expeditiously, we have always thought that. The difficulty here is this – we believe that someone should remain in detention until their refugee determination has been finalised. Now for vulnerable people we believe there is an exception and that is why we put the residence determination powers in place to create the opportunity to allow people to be released in those situations. But to create a statutory requirement, to create a set of conditions that can then be appealed in the courts, to create other layers here into a system this Government has already muddled I think would make matters worse, not better. The real way you keep people out of detention is you stop them coming in the first place and this is the point our dissenting report made. The majority report talks about the flood and doesn’t talk about the rain. The rain in this case was, at the time of the riots, 12,000 people turning up, 6,500 people being in that network who had arrived by boat compared to four when we left office. That is why it was taking too long Kieran and the asylum freeze that they put in place which clogged the system up for another six months. That is how the riots happened. Bad policy, bad decisions, failed borders and the place blew up.

GILBERT:
Aren’t we focusing too much on this issue though when you look at the numbers - they have actually declined in the last calendar year according to the UNHCR, the numbers went down last year. You wouldn’t think it given all the rhetoric in this debate.

MORRISON:
That is like suggesting they were behind in the first three quarters by about 100 points and then in the last quarter they came back by 10. All we are talking about here Kieran is a Government that has failed to manage our borers which led to a 189% increase according to the UNHCR of asylum applications made in Australia over the last four years. That includes the 9% fall last year – 189% while at the same period the global average was just over 30%. So six times the increase and the Government wants to hold this out as a success and if the media and the Government is going to set that as the bar that is an extremely low bar to set. The Government really has failed on this front, they still have no answers, they have developed a severe case of policy envy when they seek to trash any other policy that is out there simply because their own are ineffective and have failed.

GILBERT:
And just quickly we are almost out of time Mr Morrison, what are your expectations for the year ahead? Is the advice you’ve got that those numbers will return to the higher levels we saw a couple of years ago or will they plateau out?

MORRISON:
Well I can only go off what the Government themselves are forecasting. The Government themselves are forecasting around 7,500 people to turn up by the time of the next election, they are their own figures. I mean this is – we’ll see this continue from the Government and we’ll continue to see the denial, Kieran, we’ll continue to see the denial that has characterised their approach all the way through and it’s that same denial that the Australian people I think are frustrated with and that’s why we’ve seen these results again in Nielsen today; the Governments not listening, whether it’s on borders or the carbon tax and a Prime Minister who’s incredibly unpopular as a result. I mean the only difference between Anna Bligh and Julia Gillard in Queensland is, relatively speaking, Anna Bligh was more popular.

GILBERT:
Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison – as always, appreciate your making some time for us. Thanks for that.

MORRISON:
Thanks Kieran, good to be with you.

Ends

Speech : Transcript - ABC Insiders

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - ABC Insiders

Sunday 1st April 2012

Subjects: Senator Judith Adams, mandatory detention, ASIO security checks for illegal boat arrivals, UNHCR asylum seeker statistics

EandOE

BARRIE CASSIDY: To our program guest now, the Shadow Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison, who joins us this morning from our Sydney studio. Good morning, welcome.

SCOTT MORRISON: G'day Barrie.

BARRIE CASSIDY: And apart from being a very handy golfer and bowler, Senator Judith Adams, what will she be remembered for?

SCOTT MORRISON: Well she'd be remembered as a passionate advocate for Western Australia. She'll be remembered as someone who stood up for regional Australia. She was a nurse, she was a midwife; but as you just heard then she was a great mum and a great grandmother. And in all of our roles our most important are in the family, and I think that's where Judith will be particularly remembered by Stuart and Robert and all of the family and our thoughts and prayers are with them this morning.

BARRIE CASSIDY: If we go on now to the inquiry into detention centres, and what's wrong with a 90 day limit on processing asylum seekers? Why is that not long enough to sort out their status.

SCOTT MORRISON: Well it should be long enough when your system doesn't have 6,500 people in it Barrie. And I think that's the key point here. We believe that the residence determination powers should be used as we introduced them; the people who are vulnerable should be released if they're in a position of vulnerability.

The problem we have with this Government is - they had such a target Barrie, as you know, they had a target of 90 days, they were unable to achieve it because so many people turned up on so many boats and the population in the detention network went to 6,500 from just 4,000 that they inherited.

So talking about this issue and just talking about what's happening in the detention network without talking about the forces that led that detention network to collapse is a bit like talking about a flood and not talking about the rain.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Yes, but you say then that you should be able to do it in 90 days; so is it just a question of resources? In government would you throw enough resources at it so that you could process as many as 6,000 in that time frame?

SCOTT MORRISON: I don't think we should be processing 6,000. I think we should be processing 4,000. And the point I made the other day, if you're going to have, as we believe you should, the detention network and a mandatory detention system, it must sit alongside strong border protection controls as we had. Now, when the Government abandoned those strong border protection regime measures they inherited, well, this all turned to custard. And it was only a matter of time.

And that's the point we made in our report. And that is, if you're going to just basically let loose on your borders then you're going to have the situation where your detention system collapses, as it did. And it went in flames.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Yeah, but depending on, you're saying that it can be done in 90 days, why don't you commit to that? Why don't you accept that 90 days is a reasonable time frame?

SCOTT MORRISON: Well this is something we also pursued when we were in government. We don't have a problem with people being processed quickly. What we have a problem with is creating some sort of regulatory standard or requirement that only provides another form of appeal that further frustrates and complicates the system. By all means people should be processed in an expeditious manner, but to create further regulation around this I think only makes matters worse.

But the question I think misses the big point: if you don't have a strong border protection regime then these are the problems you're confronting. Back in 2007 we weren't confronted with these challenges in our detention network. The Government changed those measures and history is the judge of what happened as a result of that, absolute chaos. And this inquiry, Barrie, was into the riots, something that people don't seem to mention much in raising matters in relation to the inquiry. This - a year ago they went up in flames and people wanted to know why. And the reason it happened is the Government lost control of the borders, the population in the detention network effectively overwhelmed it and it collapsed.

BARRIE CASSIDY: But didn't it also happen because there were people who turned out to be genuine refugees who were frustrated with the time that it was taking this country to process their status?

SCOTT MORRISON: Well when you have that many people turn up in that short a succession of time, then this is the inevitable consequence of it. And that's why I keep stressing we've got to deal with the cause here. We don't just deal with a sneeze; you've got to deal with the cold. And that's what this Government hasn't done.

And in our report we made something very clear; prior to the 2010 election, Senator Evans, who was the minister, had the opportunity to respond to a draft report, the Hamburger Report, of which he had the recommendations, which said this was going to blow. Now he refused to further expand the network to take account of that, he refused to even embrace the policies the Government now have, which the Greens advocated, and he certainly refused to embrace the policies the Coalition had advocated to stop the people coming in the first place. He did nothing and he left his successor, Chris Bowen, with an inevitable crisis.

BARRIE CASSIDY: You do seem to be saying, though that 90 days is not an unreasonable amount of time. And why not impose that sort of discipline upon those who deal with this because according to the inquiry's report 90 per cent of those detainees suffer clinically significant depression, a half, half of them are diagnosed with post traumatic stress, a quarter have suicidal thoughts?

SCOTT MORRISON: Well one of the things we did Barrie is we've supported 16 of the 31 recommendations, which I'm sure you know. So a majority of the recommendations we actually supported. The ones we didn't support were things like ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) checks being subject to AAT (Administrative Appeals Tribunal) and the courts. But the things we did support were particularly in the area of improved mental health arrangements, going into centres, being more proactive and ensuring that the appropriate standards and qualifications were in place. These were measures we supported.

But I say again, Barrie, and I know you think I may be a broken record on this, but if you don't have a strong border protection regime you're mandatory detention network will fail. And that is the lesson, I think, of this experience.

BARRIE CASSIDY: But do you have a degree of sympathy, though, for people, especially those who turn out to be genuine refugees, who have to go through such a long process, and these are people who have already suffered a lot.

SCOTT MORRISON: I have a deep sympathy for the 54,000 people who applied for asylum offshore last year as well; and we settled 13,750 refugees a year, as we should, the most generous per capita program in the world. And what I am concerned is that program has dropped to 8,970 for people who are applying offshore. And that's several thousand positions that have been lost to the offshore program as a result of the fact the Government can't get their border protection policies right. ...

BARRIE CASSIDY: So what's the percentage of boat people?

SCOTT MORRISON: There are issues across the board here Barrie, you have to address, it's not as simple I think as you suggest.

BARRIE CASSIDY: But when you took at the total immigration intake, what's the percentage of boat people? It's at something like 2 per cent isn't it?

SCOTT MORRISON: Well so is the suggestion then Barrie that we shouldn't have a strong border protection regime?

BARRIE CASSIDY: No, I'm not suggesting that at all. I'm just ...

SCOTT MORRISON: I think Australians believe we should have one.

BARRIE CASSIDY: It's putting the whole thing into perspective, into context.

SCOTT MORRISON: Well what we've had is an explosion in the Budget from - $85 million it cost to run this when we left office; it now costs almost $1.2 billion. Now the reason that happened is because at the time of the riots 1,200 people turned up on 231 boats, and there were 6,500 people in the detention network. I mean that was a toxic cocktail which was always going to blow. The Government sat in denial for years and it simply followed its natural course. And that is what the Coalition members and senators found in the inquiry.

So by all means make improvements to the system, and we've supported recommendations that do that, but don't ignore the cause, which I think the majority report did.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Now you're also saying you will oppose any appeal against ASIO assessments, that's right?

SCOTT MORRISON: I think that is an absurd suggestion. I mean what it does is I think it exposes the processes and systems and intelligence sources and other things that relate to how ASIO do this, to things that it shouldn't be exposed to. I mean we rely on these assessments; the committee made it clear that they didn't think that these assessments had been arrived at lightly.

And one of the things David Irvine said at the inquiry, in going through the figures - I mean those who have come, IMAs (Irregular Maritime Arrivals), have been 20 times more likely to receive a negative security assessment than the 66,000 other applications that are referred to ASIO by DIAC (Department of Immigration and Citizenship). And not one person who'd arrived by plane over the previous three years and sought asylum had had an adverse ASIO security assessment.

So this is an area that is more acute to this form of arrival. And to provide another opportunity for people to appeal endlessly in the courts I think is a bad move and we won't support it.

BARRIE CASSIDY: But again, sometimes ASIO gets it wrong. Now what happens to those people who suffer under that sort of arrangement? As Darryl Melham said, it's sort of treating non citizens as second class citizens.

SCOTT MORRISON: Well this is a national security issue Barrie, at the end of the day, and we rely on ASIO to make assessments in this area absolutely. I mean they are the keepers here.

BARRIE CASSIDY: But they can get it wrong...

SCOTT MORRISON: And to expose their processes to that level of inquiry and review I think would compromise how they do their job. And I don't think that's in Australia's national interests.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Well at least the numbers coming to Australia are in decline, do you welcome that?

SCOTT MORRISON: Come on Barrie, they're up 189 per cent on when the Government came to office. I saw those figures, they dropped 9 per cent, and at the same time they have gone up 189 per cent since 2007.
I mean, I know the Government has tried to spin it that way Barrie, but clearly no Australian believes that this Government has got this issue under control. I mean at ...

BARRIE CASSIDY: I think it was the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) that...

SCOTT MORRISON: ... the same time they went down in the UK by 10 per cent over that period; they went down in Canada; they went down in Sweden; and into Australia over the last four years they've gone up almost 190 per cent.

BARRIE CASSIDY: No, they're down 9 per cent when you compare 2011 with 2010, that's the most recent history; and up almost 20 per cent everywhere else.

SCOTT MORRISON: Well I've just given you the figures; around the world over the last four years they went up 30 per cent and in Australia they went up 189 per cent to the most recent figures. So if you want to talk about trends Barrie...

BARRIE CASSIDY: But not 2011 compared with 2010.

SCOTT MORRISON: That's the trend, up 190 per cent over the last four years; over a 30 per cent increase around the world. If the Government and the media want to call that success, if that's where you want to set the bar, well it's a pretty low bar.

BARRIE CASSIDY: How about these figures: Australia, 11,000, we take 11,000; USA 74,000; France 52,000; even Sweden, 29,000. Why make a fuss about such relatively low figures?

SCOTT MORRISON: This is about the integrity of our immigration program Barrie, and Australians feel very strongly that people should come to Australia in an orderly fashion. It's not, as some have suggested, that Australia is somehow being overrun by people, that is not what is happening, it's about the integrity of the program and the integrity of our offshore program, which is being compromised.

The inquiry report found, and Mr Richmond, who did an inquiry into our settlement services found, the IMA intake is compromising the settlement services being provided to refugees being resettled. And at the end of the day, as we all know, and I've been talking about this for years, is that people getting on boats put their lives at risk. Now all of those are the reasons why we think it is a big deal Barrie and will continue to think it is a big deal. We've been consistent on it for a decade and we'll continue to have that resolve.

BARRIE CASSIDY: But why do you ignore and refuse to accept the most recent trends? It just leads the impression that you see this is a valuable political issue.

SCOTT MORRISON: Barrie, that's absurd. I have just told you what the trend is. One year isn't a trend, the trend over four years ...

BARRIE CASSIDY: Two years...

SCOTT MORRISON: ... since this Government came to office ...

BARRIE CASSIDY: 2011 compared with 2010.

SCOTT MORRISON: The trend over four years is six times the global average and you want to hail that as some sort of success for the Government, I mean that's just ridiculous. This Government does not have this issue under control. And if they want to take comfort about the fact over the last summer we had more boats and more people on boats to the end of February - from December to February - than at any other time in our history, then, you know live in la la land on that issue. Because the truth is ...

BARRIE CASSIDY: You know they actually went into decline, briefly, while the Malaysian solution was on the table and after the High Court decision they went up again.

SCOTT MORRISON: Well they started actually going up before that Barrie, if you look at the records clearly. And what we saw over Christmas and over the summer period, after the Government announced what is effectively the let them in, let them out policy, we had the biggest summer of boats on record.

They don't have a measure on this Barrie, they don't have a handle on it, they never have. They've chopped and changed their position more times than you can even dream of, and the situation remains unresolved. And that's where we find ourselves today.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Scott Morrison, thanks for your time this morning, I appreciate it.

SCOTT MORRISON: Thanks a lot Barrie.

END

Media Release : Riots caused by too many people on too many boats

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Too many people turning up on too many boats because of Labor’s border protection failures and their denial of these failures, led to the collapse of Australia’s immigration detention network, according to the Coalition members of the Joint Select Committee Inquiry that reported today.

“The riots that took place a year ago appalled our nation. These riots were the inevitable consequence of Labor’s decision to abandon a border protection regime that worked and the denial that they had a problem as every boat arrived. That denial continues to this day,” Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison said today.

“Our immigration detention network failed as a result of the Labor Government’s wilful and negligent dismantling of the Howard Government’s strong border protection policies which resulted in too many boats arriving,” he said.

“When we left office there were just four people in detention in Australia who arrived by boat. When the riots erupted on Christmas Island there were more than 6,500 boat arrivals in the system.

“Prior to 2008, the number of incidents in our detention network was negligible because the boats had stopped. The system was stable and under control.

“Labor’s border protection failures energised people smugglers to create a $150 million business over the last three and a half years. Our immigration detention network was simply unable to cope with the resulting flow of boats.

“Labor’s denial of their self made crisis on our borders put the Government in a state of paralysis. The combination of failed measures such as the asylum freeze, the East Timor debacle and their refusal to address the severe capacity constraints before the 2010 election created a toxic cocktail that fuelled the riots on Christmas Island.

“After the election the Government refused to prepare themselves for the inevitable riots headed their way, with critical security infrastructure upgrades ignored, response procedures not put in place and total confusion when it came to the responsibilities of police, DIAC and Serco.

“The Coalition has taken a constructive approach to the inquiry and have supported half of the recommendations of the majority report. However this report, by Labor the Greens and Mr Oakeshott, completely ignores the role of the government’s failed border protection policies.

“The Coalition has consistently maintained that the combination of strong border protection policies and mandatory detention is critical to avoid the chaos that has occurred in our detention network under this Government’s failed and non-existent border protection policies.

“When you are dealing with very few people in the detention systems, as was the case in November 2007, meeting a ninety day deadline to assess people’s claims is totally achievable. When you have filled the network with over 6,500 detainees, because of your failed border policies and add in a six month asylum freeze for good measure, it is virtually impossible.

“That’s why the Coalition report calls for the immediate restoration of the Howard Government’s strong border protection policies. Only the Coalition’s proven border protection measures can restore integrity and control to our borders and ultimately to our detention system,” Mr Morrison said.

*** Key findings of the Coalition’s dissenting report attached. Full report available here ***

Speech : Transcript - Doorstop interview

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - Doorstop interview

Friday 30th March 2012

SUBJECT: Coalition’s Dissenting Report on the Joint Select Committee Inquiry into Australia’s Immigration Detention Network

EandOE

MORRISON:
A year ago, Australia’s Immigration detention descended into chaos. Into riots, into fires, into violence, into break outs. These things happened on Australian soil at Christmas Island and later at Villawood. Australians were rightly appalled at what they saw and they wanted answers. They wanted to understand how something like this could’ve been allowed to have happened on our soil. The fact that Australian Federal Police had to physically retake a Commonwealth facility that the government had lost control over I think was the lowest point in all of the rolling crisis that we’ve seen in the Immigration detention network under this government.

The Coalition as a result of these events demanded answers. It was the Coalition who moved that a committee inquiry, a parliamentary inquiry be established into just what happened and to more broadly look at issues within the Australian immigration detention network. We were pleased to put forward that inquiry and we were pleased to gain the support of the Parliament in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate. The government initially had rejected the notion of an inquiry. They had dismissed it as a political stunt and after now many, many months of evidence and taking submissions, it is clear to me why they were so resistant in allowing the matters that were allowed to happen on their watch that led to the riots at Christmas Island and Villawood, why they didn’t want those matters looked into.

Our detention network collapsed because simply too many people turned up on too many boats as a result of Labor’s border protection failures. To not talk about how many boats arrived and how many people piled into the detention network and the reason why that happened is a bit like trying to talk about a flood without talking about the rain. It’s absolutely important that we look seriously as to why this occurred. The reason too many people turned up on too many boats is because this government abolished the proven border protection regime they inherited from John Howard. When they abolished that proven border protection regime, they abolished the absolute nexus required for an effective mandatory detention program. Mandatory detention requires a strong border protection regime to back it up. And when you lose that strong border protection regime, then what happens is what we saw happen in our immigration detention network.

This Government has abolished every remaining brick in John Howard’s wall of border protection that was built up over six years. When they came to office, there were just four people in the detention network who had arrived by boat. Boats were arriving at an average of around three per year and around 150 people over that entire time. What we need to focus on is what happened since then after they abolished those measures.

Since the riots, over 10,500 people have turned up on 232 boats and there were over 6500 people in the detention networks. Now this didn’t happen on its own. And this was the driving force that we saw right through the inquiry after report after report, after witness after witness said simply that the detention network couldn’t cope with this level of arrivals. And as they piled in, we saw the pressures mount. We saw the incidents rise from an average of just one critical incident per month to one incident in less than every six hours in the network. This is what the situation became at the time of the situation on Christmas Island.

Now I focus very heavily on the riots in my statements today because they have not been focused on, I believe, in the majority report that has been made public today. The Australian people particularly wanted answers as to how and why this happened. So firstly it was because of the Government’s decision to abolish the border protection regime of the Howard Government that led to the record level of arrivals that overwhelmed our detention network, whether it was Serco, whether it was the government, whether it was the other agencies that were involved.

Secondly, our report which numbers to almost 100 pages going into these issues details very clearly that prior to the 2010 election, Minister Evans failed to act on the advice and the reports and the warnings that were coming to him that he either had to do something to stop the boats coming or he needed to urgently expand the detention network. Equally, he had to reverse the discriminatory asylum freeze that he’d put in place in April 2010 which on all reports indicated that this was just making a bad situation worse. What Minister Evans did before the August 2010 election was nothing.

In the face of a clear recommendation from what is known as the draft Hamburger report, which under evidence DIAC confirmed the Minister had knowledge of, that the Department Secretary had knowledge of, he simply did nothing. He neither embraced the policies of the Greens at that time prior to an election, which the government has subsequently done now, nor did he embrace the policies of the Coalition. He sat there and did nothing.

This leads me to the third point. After the election, Minister Bowen took the advice to expand the detention network but by that time it was far too late. The die had already been cast. What Minister Bowen’s failings are, as we’ve identified in our report, is to fail to prepare the network for the crisis that was certainly coming. And that was demonstrated in some evidence given by Assistant-Commissioner of Police in NSW Frank Mennilli who said in August 2010 there was a desktop exercise undertaken with Serco and DIAC. He sought to elevate that desktop exercise to deal with a fire at Villawood. He was told after that incident that that would never happen and I think that indicates the level of alert and the level of awareness about what was really coming down the pipe in that detention network.

So we had the situation where critical issues such as the electric fence not being switched on, Federal Police with high level public order management training removed from Christmas Island, we had raceways between compounds which had been identified as having serious infrastructure deficiencies not addressed and we had no critical incident response management plan on Christmas Island or at Villawood when it all turned to custard. These things were under the Minister’s direct responsibility to ensure were in place; the steps were not taken despite the fact that he was getting report after report from his department week after week in daily briefings and weekly briefings that the system was running out of control.

Finally we make some recommendations into how some of these matters need to be addressed but the other area of failing of both Minister Evans and Minister Bowen was their failing to have DIAC sit down with Serco and renegotiate the contract. When the contract was negotiated with Serco, the system looked nothing like what it did when the riots hit in 2011. At no time was that contract renegotiated; at no time was there a look at how things should be recalibrated to address what they were now facing. What all this points to is months and months, if not years of denial of the problem that they created of their own making. And that was to dismantle what they inherited from John Howard – the boats came, the people came, the detention centres filled up and they eventually were set on fire and that’s what happened.

I want to conclude by saying that this Inquiry has been I think a very professional inquiry as the Chair has indicated and I pass on my thanks to Daryl Melham, who I’ve known for many years, and the other members of the committee. I particularly want to thank the Committee Secretariat who’ve been very diligent and I commend them for the work that they have done. It is true that the Coalition has very much engaged constructively in this exercise. Having proposed this inquiry, of course this was what we were always going to do. We have supported 16 of the 31 recommendations. We have not supported all of the recommendations and actively rejected a number of those recommendations. We have put forward our own recommendations that deal with matters of security, which deal with matters of restoring strong border protection policies. We remain committed to mandatory detention combined with a strong border protection policy. That’s what worked when we were last in government, that will work again and that is what we will restore. Thank you.

QUESTION:
So what’s the main part of the committee’s report that you have rejected and why?

MORRISON:
Well the committee makes 31 recommendations. As I just said, the Coalition remains committed to a mandatory detention policy with a stronger border protection regime. That’s our commitment and this majority report from the Greens and Labor and Rob Oakeshott effectively seeks to walk away from that and we don’t support that. And there are many others there and they’ll be circulated and I’m happy to talk questions on them.

QUESTION:
Do you support the main recommendation of the report which is essentially that people should be kept in detention centres for as little time as possible? There’s also a recommendation that suggests a 90 day time limit would be appropriate, do you support those recommendations?

MORRISON:
Well we believe that mandatory detention should be in place until someone’s status has been determined, that’s what we practised in government and combined with a strong border protection policy, it resulted in just four people being in detention and we think that’s the sort of outcome we need to get to. And in government, we achieved that outcome and we believe we can achieve that outcome again.

QUESTION:
Does that mean you’re objecting to the main recommendation of the report [inaudible]?

MORRISON:
Well I’ve given you my answer. We support the continuation of the policy of detention until someone’s refugee status has been determined. That has always been our policy. That has been our policy for a decade. See, the Coalition doesn’t chop and change when it comes to these matters. We remain very consistent with the views that we’ve held, the policies we’ve employed and the measures that have worked. The government has had every single position under the sun on this issue. At least the Greens have been consistent on this issue. The Government now agrees with the Greens – they can explain that but the Coalition remains firm on the positions we’ve taken and the people smugglers know that better than anyone else.

QUESTION:
Do you support a time limit?

MORRISON:
We support the maintenance of detention for persons until their refugee status is determined.

QUESTION:
So no time frame?

MORRISON:
Well I’ve given you my answer.

QUESTION:
So in that case you don’t support the recommendations of the bridging visas once the initial security checks have been done?

MORRISON:
Bridging visas were actually introduced by the Coalition for people who were deemed to be vulnerable in the exercise of Residence Determination powers. Now we have always supported that policy. What the Government has done is turn that into a mainstream release policy. Now that is a very different proposition and in the report we make it clear that that is not something we support. What we support is dealing with the root cause of what’s going on here and the Government and the majority report completely ignores that position. If people don’t come on boats, there’s no one in detention. That’s the best way to ensure there’s no one in detention.

QUESTION:
What about the recommendation that the Immigration Minister be removed as a legal guardian for unaccompanied minors?

MORRISON:
No, we believe the existing guardianship arrangements are appropriate.

QUESTION:
So you say you’ve supported 16 of the 31 recommendations – what are some of the examples of that?

MORRISON:
Largely they deal with some of the more practical issues around, for example, I mean the first recommendation of the committee regarding the maintenance of robust procedures to observe the contract. Now what we need to be very clear about here is there have been many criticisms of Serco in this report. Serco for all intents and purposes here are the government. When you contract a service to be delivered by another party, a private contractor, you can’t contract away your accountability. The government cannot hold up Serco as a scapegoat for their failures in the detention network. Serco ended up having to deal with a system and a policy not of their making but of the government’s making and the government at no time sought to renegotiate that position which may have enabled Serco to have a better and more effective response and as a result there should be strong contractual management procedures in place and where those recommendations had been made we supported them.

QUESTION:
So do you support the recommendation to have an independent expert inquire into the appropriate qualifications for Serco staff?

MORRISON:
Yes we have supported that recommendation.

QUESTION:
More generally what does this report tell you about whether offshore processing would be a better option people than detention?

MORRISON:
Well the majority report doesn’t talk about it at all. The majority report, certainly I the comments made today by the chair, doesn’t talk about the riots at all. Our recommendation is to restore offshore processing on Nauru as part of a series of measures that are proven and have worked. That is our recommendation and that is our policy.

QUESTION:
What does the report tell you about the effect of detention on those who are detained?

MORRISON:
I’ve visited as many of these centres, probably more than most, and I think one of the critical issues we found in the Inquiry was the length of the detention and how that had significantly increased. And that was why we were so critical of the government’s asylum freeze. The government put in place in April 2010, when they knew the detention population was increasing, in a fit of denial and panic, an asylum freeze that effectively locked the network up for six months. They added an extra six months to everybody’s time in detention. We thought that was madness. It was not only madness but it was absolutely discriminatory. It said that if you were an Afghan, or if you were Sri Lankan, we were not going to assess your claim. Now this is a Government that says they support a non-discriminatory immigration policy. That policy was in complete violation of that position and it was rejected by the Coalition. So length of detention I think became an absolutely critical problem in this process. But the problem is with length of detention – when you’ve gone from four people in detention to 6,500 people in detention, the system groans and basically collapses upon itself. That’s why I say if you’re going to have, as we believe you should, a detention system that’s mandatory, it must be combined with a strong border protection regime. These two are joined at the hip. This government broke that nexus and it broke the detention network in the process and they should be accountable for that and yet they refuse to take accountability for that and were in complete denial about their role in all of these terrible outcomes.

QUESTION:
But the Greens will say it’s the Coalition’s policies that are keeping people in detention until they are granted refugee status exacerbates the problem of how long asylum seekers are kept in detention.

MORRISON:
Well the Greens have a policy which says they have no problem with people just simply coming - they have always had that position and they have always adopted a let them in let them out approach. The government has now also joined them in that approach and that is their right to do so. The Coalition believes that you have to put up strong border protection and for those who do manage to come through the net, then you have a system of mandatory detention that’s in place. Now when we operated that system, as I said, we ended up with a situation in 2007 when there were four people in detention, the number of incidents taking place in the network was negligible. It is only once the population started to soar that the system began to crack and eventually break.

QUESTION:
The inquiry does focus on rethinking perhaps the remote location of detention centres, do you have any thoughts about that?

MORRISON:
Well I always take a fairly open-minded approach to this, particularly when I was in Scherger. That was a decision that was taken by the government in haste after the 2010 election because Senator Evans had failed to make a decision for months and months before. I make this point, during the August 2010 election campaign, the Prime Minister made it clear to the Australian people she had no intention of expanding the detention network, that it wasn’t necessary. As soon as her Immigration Minister was appointed, that was the first thing he did. So that, I think, put the system under a lot of stress and a lot of hasty decisions were made. Scherger was one of those decisions. There were more health services provided in that one detention centre in Scherger than the entire Cape York Peninsula and in particular in remote Indigenous communities, which was some of the evidence we received while we were up there. So remote centres, particularly in places like Scherger, present real challenges. But case by case scenario, make a good decision based on the advice you have available to you and the information that is there. Now we’ve operated centres in places like Nauru and Manus Island, places such as that, I mean the hospital on Nauru has more capacity than the hospital on Christmas Island. So where you can put the facilities in place, it works. Where you can’t, I think it creates great cost and stress.

QUESTION:
The committee says if all its recommendations are implemented it will save taxpayers money. Wouldn’t that be something you would support?

MORRISON:
Well what I know is if they implemented recommendation one of the Coalition’s dissenting report, which is to restore a proven border protection policy, we would save hundreds of millions. I mean, it cost $85 million to run the asylum seeker management program when the Coalition left office. the bill for that in 2011-12 is over $1.1 billion. The blowouts, as pointed out in our report, now over budget $3.9 billion. That’s what happens when you don’t put in place the proper border protection regime in the first place. There seems to be, I think, a view that what the report needed to address was what happened after the crisis, not what actually caused the crisis in the first place. We don’t want to deal with the symptoms here, we want to deal with the cause. And that’s what our report focuses on.

QUESTION:
Just one thing from the majority report on community detention, so why don’t you support the recommendation that asylum seekers found to be refugees just have an assessment [inaudible]. Why don’t you want them placed in community detention?

MORRISON:
Our position is the Residence Determination powers are available to the Minister to place anybody in the community who is deemed to be vulnerable. That was our policy and that remains our policy. We don’t agree with a blanket policy of community release and a blanket policy of bridging visas. We believe the policy should be as we crafted it and as we put it into practise. Where people are vulnerable, residence determination powers are available. And it’s interesting that those residence determination powers were not used by this Government until after the 2010 election when, by that time, there was over 700 children in the network.

QUESTION:
I’ve just had a really quick look at these recommendations; it seems that it’s pretty much a run down of where the Coalition’s always been …[inaudible]… so how did this inquiry change your views at all?

MORRISON:
It’s reinforced I think in our view, and it absolutely has reinforced, that when you lose control of your borders, you will lose control of your detention network. And that’s what’s happened. And it’s reinforced the need to have those strong measures in place in the first place and we focused in our dissenting report very much on that point because it was one that no one wanted to confront. The Government certainly wanted to deny it and we thought it was critical that this point was made. Now, beyond that, I think there are some practical suggestions that are laid out in the committee’s report that we have supported. It’s not the normal practise for the Opposition to go through recommendation by recommendation and put a position and we considered that. And I think it was the right thing to do to do that because this was a very constructive exercise, it was a constructive inquiry and as I said I commend the Chair for the way in which he handled the inquiry. So there are some things we’ve supported, there are others we have not. In particular, we reject the suggestion that there should be an AAT [Administrative Appeals Tribunal] review of ASIO assessments. We think that is an absurd idea. National security is paramount and we think that that process would only provide further opportunities for matters to be endlessly appealed in the courts and would very much put at risk the methods and the analysis and the information that ASIO use to make these very important determinations which the majority report made very clear are not made lightly. I don’t think there was any criticism of ASIO about the way they undertake these assessments, they are very sensitive matters, they should remain so in the national interest.

QUESTION:
Was there anything at all that came up in this inquiry, from the stories that were told, that actually made you rethink any element of the Coalition’s position on asylum seekers and immigration detention centres?

MORRISON:
Well as I said I’ve visited asylum seekers and refugees here, I’ve visited them overseas, I’ve met them and heard their stories. I’ve heard them before I went into this inquiry. Those stories I heard again in the course of this inquiry. And it just reinforced to me again why it is so important that if you’re going to have a program with integrity, you’ve got to have a strong border protection regime that sits at the heart of it. I mean, one of the points we make in our dissenting report is to highlight the impact on the Offshore Settlement Program. We announced just a few weeks ago that it would be Coalition policy to quarantine 11,000 out of the 13,750 places for those who are making applications offshore. Those places have been significantly reduced as a result of the policies of this government to less than 9,000. We said we would guarantee 1,000 places for Women At Risk. The Richmond report, which is referred to in our report, noted very clearly that there are impacts on the broader services program being delivered to refugees who we are resettling, both in terms of the cohort that were coming through from the IMAs as well as the competition for scarce resources in the community; for housing and other services that the community release policy are presenting. So Australia’s a generous country, we want to continue to resettle refugees in this country as we have for decades and been a world leader. But you can’t do that when you’ve got a program that is not being run by your own government, that is being run by people smugglers and that is allowing the system to descend into the sort of chaos they allowed it to descend into which we saw at Christmas Island and Villawood in particular.

QUESTION:
How does the Coalition move forward from here in trying to shape asylum seeker policy and immigration detention issues from opposition when it is clear that you obviously disagree with so many of the recommendations of this report. Where do we go from here?

MORRISON:
Well we agree with 16 of the 31 recommendations so I don’t – wouldn’t characterise that – it’s actually more than half so I suppose the premise of your question is dismissed.

QUESTION:
There is some common ground but not all common ground. By a large amount it’s not common ground.

MORRISON:
Well there is a big difference between the government and the Coalition when it comes to border protection. That difference isn’t just about our record of success versus the government’s record of failure, it’s about how we believe these matters should be dealt with and the consistency of our position. Now there’s a lot of difference between the Greens and the Coalition, the government agrees with the Greens now – they haven’t always but now they do. The difference really is one of consistency and a haphazard approach of the government and that’s for the government to explain. How do we shape our policy? We base it on our success in government, on our resolve, on our consistency and that’s why the Australian people trust us on this issue and overwhelmingly do not trust the government. Thank you.

END

Speech : Transcript - 2GB Ben Fordham

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Speech

Transcript - 2GB Ben Fordham

Friday 30th March 2012

SUBJECTS: Coalition’s Dissenting Report on the Joint Select Committee Inquiry into Australia’s Immigration Detention Network

E and OE

FORDHAM:
A new report into Australia’s detention centres has recommended people should be held in detention for no more than 90 days. Let’s go now to Scott Morrison, Shadow Minister for Immigration. G’day Scott.

MORRISON:
G’day.

FORDHAM:
This just came out in the last hour. What do you think of the 90 day recommendation?

MORRISON:
Well we think the report really misses the whole point and that is at the end of the day, it’s a bit like talking about a flood and not mentioning the rain. The reason the detention network collapsed, which is what this inquiry was supposed to be about – the riots on Christmas Island a year ago, at Villawood, that shocked and appalled the nation – the reason that happened is too many people turned up on too many boats. It crammed the detention network, the government failed to respond properly and it all went up in flames. Now the way you avoid that happening again is having a strong border protection regime, which had resulted in just four people being in detention when we left office.

FORDHAM:
OK, there’s also a need to deal with the reality of the situation we find ourselves in right now. The report from this Joint Parliamentary Inquiry has suggested that more needs to be done to tackle the mental health crisis inside detention centres and one of the things they are recommending is this 90 day limit – do you support it or not?

MORRISON:
No, what we support Ben is that people remain in detention until their refugee status is determined – until we find out whether they’re a refugee or not. Now where people are vulnerable, and they are determined to be vulnerable, then we have always supported those individuals being released into the community. That’s the policy we introduced back in 2005 and we stand by that. But what the Government has done is embraced the Greens position of ‘let them in and let them out’ and we don’t support that.

FORDHAM:
Ok. 86% of asylums seekers have depression or depression-related symptoms. No real surprise there.

MORRISON:
Well no that’s been the case for a long time and one of the reasons why people have been in detention so long is because in April 2010, the Government introduced a six month asylum freeze. That’s one of the findings that we highlighted in our report, which showed that that decision – the decision not to expand the detention network before the 2010 election where they basically sat on their hands and did nothing, they all said ‘We’re not going to expand detention network before the election’, ‘we’re not going to embrace the Greens policies of let them in, let them out’. Well what happened after the election? They expanded the detention network at a cost of several hundred million dollars and they ended up just capitulating to the Greens.

FORDHAM:
If you had a limit of 90 days in detention, if that was policy, surely that would increase the attractiveness of coming to Australia?

MORRISON:
Well we were achieving those marks Ben when we were in government, when there were no boats coming. So you can achieve 90 days if you don’t have 6,500 people in the detention network and you’ve put at least 1,000 of them into a freeze. So the 90 day mark can be achieved but it can’t be achieved when you have this mess on border protection and that’s why I made the point I did at the outset and that is the reality at the end of the day. I mean, four people versus 6,500 when they set the place alight at Christmas Island.

FORDHAM:
Scott Morrison, thank you.

MORRISON:
Thanks Ben.

FORDHAM:
Shadow Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison, on the line.

Ends

Media Release : More boat arrivals met with more abuse, excuses and policy envy from Labor

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The illegal arrival of another boat carrying 50 passengers and two crew has been met with more abuse, excuses and policy envy from Labor on their border protection failures, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison and Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Michael Keenan said today.

“This is the seventeenth boat to arrive this year, and the thirtieth carrying more than 2,400 people in the four months since Labor announced their ‘let them in, let them out’ policy of community release and bridging visas adopted from the Greens last year,” Mr Morrison said.

“Only this week Senator Carr effectively accused anyone who was concerned about Labor’s border protection failures as being racists. Labor’s true feelings on these matters always find them out.

“Then there is Minister Bowen’s hapless attempt to blame Tony Abbott and the Coalition for his own Government’s failures. Blaming the Opposition is not a policy response, it is just a lame excuse for a Government that would rather cling to failure than restore the Coalition’s policies that worked.

“Julia Gillard and Chris Bowen have a serious case of policy envy on border protection.

“Not content with having no effective policy of their own, they don’t want anyone else to have one either.

“That is why the Prime Minister and Minister work so hard to trash the Coalition’s proven measures that they abolished, that created this mess in the first place,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Keenan said: “With the arrival of yet another illegal boat, it is clear that Labor’s severe budgetary cuts to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service have once again aided the people smugglers in their lucrative criminal business and placed further strain on our under-resourced and overworked Customs officers.

“As a result of Labor’s mismanagement, Customs have to redirect their funding and resources towards the crisis at our borders, meanwhile air cargo inspections have dropped from 60% under the Howard Government to a frightening 8.3% today, which is allowing illegal weapons and drugs onto our streets.

“The Minister for Home Affairs Jason Clare needs to stop with all this unproductive finger pointing and start to actually take some responsibility for the worsening situation at our borders. The Minister can start by immediately reinstating the $60 million cut from the Customs budget,” he said.

“Denying responsibility for their actions has become an all too familiar reality for this incompetent Labor Government and the Australian people are getting mighty sick of listening to their excuses,” Mr Keenan said.

Media Release : Meeting with Ten was constructive and put local concerns on record, says Morrison

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Local Federal Member for Cook, Scott Morrison said today’s meeting with Channel Ten executives, including CEO James Warburton, was constructive and enabled community concerns over Channel Ten’s proposed reality TV programme to be filmed in the Sutherland Shire to be put on record.

“The meeting today was constructive and provided a good opportunity to raise community concerns and for Channel Ten to explain the true nature of the program they are proposing to put to air,” Mr Morrison said.

“I thank Mr Warburton and his colleagues for agreeing to my invitation to meet today and the opportunity to sit down and discuss these issues with them, together with my state parliamentary colleague Mark Speakman and the Sutherland Shire Mayor.

“Consent and approvals for filming and other activities associated with the production are matters for Council, private businesses and individuals.

“As a federal member of Parliament, my primary focus is on Channel Ten’s responsibilities as a licensed broadcaster and their compliance with the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice.

“The Code requires, amongst many other things, that a program does not provoke or perpetuate intense dislike against a person or group.

“Channel Ten executives were very clear today that they were not seeking to put to air the type of programme that was depicted in the recently circulated unauthorised video footage. The ultimate test will be in what Ten broadcasts.

“Whether the production complies with the Code and whether the Code requires any enhancements to ensure residents of any part of Australia, not just the Sutherland Shire, are protected from unfair characterisation will be assessed on what Ten puts to air.

“The Shire is a great place to live and raise a family. Our community is hardworking, generous and appreciative of the wonderful lifestyle and opportunities that we have, living in this great part of Sydney, in the greatest country on earth,” Mr Morrison said.

Media Release : Morrison welcomes meeting with Network Ten CEO to discuss community concerns

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Local Federal Member for Cook, Scott Morrison has welcomed the opportunity to meet with the Chief Executive of Network Ten, James Warburton, to discuss community concerns with a program the network is intending to broadcast, filmed in the Sutherland Shire.

“I am pleased Mr Warburton has agreed to meet with me in good faith to discuss the Shire community's concerns with the program, following our conversation earlier today,” Mr Morrison said.

“This process has gotten off to a very bad start. It is time we hit the reset button and sit down together to discuss the community's concerns and to get a better understanding of what Channel Ten are proposing, and how community concerns can be allayed.

“I'm sure that as a responsible broadcaster Channel Ten would not want to air programming that would malign residents and viewers in any community in Sydney, not just the Sutherland Shire.

“Citizens should not be subject in this country to stereotyping or vilification because of what they believe, their ethnicity, where they were born or where they live. This is an important liberty that I am sure any licensed national broadcaster would be keen to honour and respect in their programming.

“The Shire is a rich, diverse and hard working community whose people have a passion for family, community service, sport and who cherish their lifestyle.

“The Shire is great place to live and raise a family and it is my privilege and duty to do all I can to ensure it stays this way and to enhance and protect the reputation of our community,” Mr Morrison said.

Media Release : Opinion Piece - Customs failure is a smoking gun for Labor

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The guns on our streets, the guns being traded, the guns that form this black market have got into Australia through pretty porous borders.

That is what then-premier Bob Carr told a Sydney radio station almost 10 years ago. So how would Julia Gillard's new Foreign Minister now explain the events of last week, when we learned that up to 220 Glock pistols crossed our borders? It will be especially difficult given that Labor's cuts to the Customs budget has seen air cargo screening reduced by 75 per cent.

Andrew Scipione, Australia's most respected policeman, said of the Sylvania Waters smuggling ring: "This isn't just a border security issue, it's a national security issue."

The Coalition believes that the discovery of this gaping hole on our borders demands a specific and independent inquiry into Customs and Australia Post. We need to know what happened, why it happened, what our current exposure is and what must be done to plug this hole.

Customs did not know they were "on fire" on this issue until the NSW Police "turned up with a hose". And it has not raised an eyebrow in federal government.

All the government has sought to do is congratulate themselves.

They are refusing to ask themselves the hard questions about the resourcing and processes of their own agencies and the impact of budget cuts.

The inquiry must specifically seek to establish accountability for the failures identified.

This episode is just another reason why Australians have rightly concluded that Labor cannot be trusted to protect our borders. If you cannot trust Labor to stop the boats, then it is no surprise that we cannot trust them to stop the guns either.

This opinion piece was originally published in the Daily Telegraph where it can be viewed here

Speech : Vale Frank Jordan

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Speech

Vale Frank Jordan

Wednesday 21st March 2012

I rise to pay tribute to the life of Frank Jordan, vice patron and life member of the Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club, Olympian at the Helsinki games, founding father of the Cronulla Sutherland Water Polo Club, dedicated teacher and mentor, loving husband to Shirley for almost 57 years, devoted father, grandfather and great-grandfather to Robyn, Jenny, David and their families and a great mate and friend to all those who had the pleasure and privilege to know him.

Last Friday I joined with our community at the Woronora cemetery to pay tribute to Frank. Frank grew up in Bankstown, less than a mile away from the local pool. His swimming journey took him to Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club, where he gained his Bronze Medallion in 1951, and to a culture he would know, enjoy and nurture for the rest of his life.

Frank's competitive achievements in the surf were the forerunner to decades of service as a coach and a mentor, enabling hundreds of young shire athletes to realise their potential and learn some important life lessons from Frank along the way. In 1964, Frank convened a meeting at Cronulla to form what is now the Cronulla Sutherland Water Polo Club, which has produced Olympians and champions from Andrew Kerr to Alicia McCormack.

To paraphrase the president of the Cronulla surf club, Greg Holland, who joins me here today, Frank Jordan swam a good race with honesty, integrity and authenticity. His life was one of vigilance and service in the great tradition of Australian surf lifesaving. To Shirley and all her family, I express my sympathies and condolences but most of all the thanks of a grateful shire community for Frank's faithful life of service. You knew him in his greatest role—a great family man. There is no greater achievement for a man than that.