September 3, 2024
RAY HADLEY: Well, a boat carrying 74 potential asylum seekers turned back by Border Force officials last month, bringing the total number of vessels making their journey to Australia under Labor to 20. The Coalition has blamed the chronic degradation of the Australian Border Force's surveillance capability for the illegal arrivals, while Labor has vowed to continue turning back boats. The opposition Home Affairs Spokesman, James Paterson, said the ABF's latest Operation Sovereign Border report to July marked a grim milestone for the Albanese government. He said there have now been 20 illegal ventures carrying 450 people that have made journey to Australia in 2022. At least three of these dropped their passengers on Australian territory before departing undetected, something virtually unheard of under the previous Coalition government. The ABF report confirmed Australian authorities safely turn back a boat carrying 74 potential irregular immigrants and crew to the country of departure. Senator Paterson said it was the largest cohort of people on a single boat in more than two years now, going back to the days of Rudd-Gillard-Rudd. I used to play this nearly twice a day sometimes, [LOUD SHIP HORN]. Once Operation Sovereign Borders came to pass, the boats stopped. Labor's never had the capacity to stop the boats because it's against their DNA. Of course, temporary protection visas were part of that, but they were abandoned by the incoming Labor government as well. Senator James Paterson, the Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security is on the line. Senator, good morning.
JAMES PATERSON: Good morning Ray.
HADLEY: So they keep coming. I guess, through lack more than good management, we seem to locate them in waters outside, where the jurisdiction would normally be. We can turn them back. But then we've had three arrived on the north west shore of Western Australia. Not only arrive, but then be undetected until local indigenous people alerted the authorities.
PATERSON: Exactly right, Ray. It's a good thing when we stop them at sea and turn them around. That is the system working as it should. But it's not working if we're reliant on local residents and indigenous communities to find people wandering around the desert in north western Australia, before we find out that there was an illegal people smuggling venture. And that's happened three times on this government's watch. And the worrying thing is it's been accompanied by a huge rise in illegal fishing in the same area. They are also slipping through and being found by local community groups and indigenous leaders. And that shouldn't be happening either. And it means our whole northwest frontier is open, and ripe for the picking by people smugglers, illegal fishers, and who knows what else.
HADLEY: And part of Operation Sovereign Borders, and a very important part was temporary protection visas, which have been abandoned by this government as well.
PATERSON: And the critical thing about that, the reason why the Abbott government introduced temporary protection visas was that there had to be a deterrent to people that sent a really strong message that if you somehow made it to Australia, that you would never get to permanently stay. There will be no permanent humanitarian visa for you. That you could be sent back at any time to your home country if it was safe to do so. Now, in taking that away, one of the first acts of the Albanese government, they sent this message of weakness to people smugglers. They sent them a product to sell, that allows people smugglers to sell the misleading message to desperate people that maybe you will get to stay in Australia because the government has softened their border protection policies. And it was a huge mistake, and they should reverse it.
HADLEY: In relation to, this generally, and I just think that, you know, there's probably pressure on the Prime Minister from people within his party. And he's sort of, you know, maybe ruling in one way or another after the next election with the help of Greens and Teals. He's very careful not to cut across what they would be thinking in relation to all of this. So, I guess his own, left wing views, are also being adjoined by the views of people he may rely upon to govern in the future.
PATERSON: Well, that's the scary thing, Ray. As bad as the last two years have been, as weak as the Prime Minister has been, just imagine if he's somehow re-elected but in a minority government, in a hung parliament, reliant on the Teals and the Greens, and having to negotiate everything from the AUKUS agreements to border protection, to tax policy through these crossbenchers. I mean, that government will be the weakest government ever known in Australian history. And that's what I'm really determined to prevent happening.
HADLEY: Now, the ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess, according to Sharri Markson reporting on Sky News, told a private gathering that anyone who supports Hamas or the October 7 terror attack would pose a national security threat in comments that clarify his views on the Gaza visa issued. This was on Sky news last night, Sky News revealed Mr. Burgess expanded on ASIO's position. Making it clear Gazans who want a Palestinian state will be allowed here, while support of Hamas would be a dealbreaker now, Sharri also had a guest on the program last night, formerly with the Israeli government, Eylon Levy, who talked about the various polls in that region that obviously support Hamas. My concern is this, while Mr. Burgess is independent, he won't get the chance to determine whether people are a security threat because of their association with a terrorist organisation, because they come here on a tourist visa. And then, as we've found out today, 750 of 1300 or so immediately apply for other visas. So there would be no check. It wouldn't be Mike Burgess' job to check anyone coming to Australia on a tourist visa, as all those people have to date.
PATERSON: Well that's right, Ray and Mike Burgess himself said in the Insiders interview a few weeks ago that only a minority of these applications were being referred to ASIO for assessment, if they met certain criteria. That means a large majority are not coming to ASIO at all, which means that they don't have the opportunity to check whether they're Hamas supporters or not. And in any case, enforcement of the character provisions of the Migration Act is not the job of ASIO. It's the job of the Department of Home Affairs and the government. And the Prime Minister was not able to say when asked repeatedly in question time a few weeks ago, would it violate the character provisions of the Migration Act to support a listed terrorist organisation? We still don't know whether he thinks that's the case or not. We think clearly it should. And those people's visas should be refused on character grounds. And if they are already here, they should be cancelled on character grounds and they should be deported because our country will not become better or stronger or more cohesive if we bring in supporters of listed terrorist organisations.
HADLEY: It's a problem that's not going to go away, but I have a feeling that it'll be a problem much discussed in the lead up to the election, either later this year or early next year. Thanks for your time, Senator.
PATERSON: Thanks, Ray.
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