QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, if you were in an asylum seekers' shoes and you and your family were fleeing a war-torn country and you couldn't afford airfares to Australia, what would you do?
TONY ABBOTT:
I don't hold it against anyone wanting to come to Australia. Let's face it, nearly all of us are migrants or the descendants of migrants. So, I don't hold it against anyone wanting to come to Australia. You've got to come the right way, not the wrong way. You've got to come in through front door, not the back-door, and that's the problem. Under this government we have subcontracted out to people smugglers an important component of our immigration program. We have been taken for a ride for too long by the people smugglers. This government has effectively surrendered for five years to the people smugglers and now after five years of abject failure, Kevin Rudd wants to be rewarded because he says, I have a new plan. Well, this plan won't work just like all of his other plans won't work because Mr Rudd and the Labor Party don't have the will and the resolve to protect our borders.
QUESTION:
If you had to flee you might have to come in through the back door. If you had to flee you might not have the option of the front door, what would you do?
TONY ABBOTT:
The overwhelming majority of the people who are coming to our country illegally by boat have come via other countries where they could readily have claimed asylum. The fact that they are determined not to stop until they come to Australia means that they are overwhelmingly economic migrants, not genuine asylum seekers and this is the point that it has taken this government five years to understand. The Coalition has always understood this. This is why when it comes to who you can trust on border protection, you can trust the people who have always been strong on border protection, not a Prime Minister who one day says he's not going to lurch to the right on border protection and the next day says he's not going to lurch to the left on border protection. The trouble is Kevin Rudd will be whatever he needs to be to try to win a political advantage.
QUESTION:
What is your solution to the problem?
TONY ABBOTT:
Our solution today is the same as it's always been. It is to put in place the policies that have been proven to work and there are a number of elements to those policies. First of all, we've got to have temporary protection visas so the people smugglers don't have a product to sell. Second, we've got to have rigorous offshore processing and that's why the Coalition has always been ready to work with Nauru and PNG and other friendly countries. Third and absolutely vitally, we've got to be prepared to turn boats around where it is safe to do so. They are our borders and we have to be prepared to do what is necessary on our borders to keep our country safe and secure.
QUESTION:
On turning the boats around, most of them are in such a condition that they wouldn't make it and you could be actually condemning people to death. So how you can say turn the boats around it is not an easy thing to do, is it?
TONY ABBOTT:
No-one said it was easy, but I completely reject claims that it is impossible. It has been done before. It can be done again. A whole range of military and naval experts, Admiral Ritchie, Brigadier Hogan, General Molan have all stood up to testify in recent days that what has been done in the past can be done again. Sure, it is not easy, but again it comes down to, do you have the will to protect our country or in the end do you think that the protection of our country can be subcontracted out to others? Well, it can't be. In the end, no-one will have Australia's interests more at heart than Australians and no-one is going to be more determined to protect our country than the Australian Government. And no-one should be more determined to protect our country than the Australian Government and the Australian Prime Minister.
Mr Abbott, if you were in an asylum seekers' shoes and you and your family were fleeing a war-torn country and you couldn't afford airfares to Australia, what would you do?
TONY ABBOTT:
I don't hold it against anyone wanting to come to Australia. Let's face it, nearly all of us are migrants or the descendants of migrants. So, I don't hold it against anyone wanting to come to Australia. You've got to come the right way, not the wrong way. You've got to come in through front door, not the back-door, and that's the problem. Under this government we have subcontracted out to people smugglers an important component of our immigration program. We have been taken for a ride for too long by the people smugglers. This government has effectively surrendered for five years to the people smugglers and now after five years of abject failure, Kevin Rudd wants to be rewarded because he says, I have a new plan. Well, this plan won't work just like all of his other plans won't work because Mr Rudd and the Labor Party don't have the will and the resolve to protect our borders.
QUESTION:
If you had to flee you might have to come in through the back door. If you had to flee you might not have the option of the front door, what would you do?
TONY ABBOTT:
The overwhelming majority of the people who are coming to our country illegally by boat have come via other countries where they could readily have claimed asylum. The fact that they are determined not to stop until they come to Australia means that they are overwhelmingly economic migrants, not genuine asylum seekers and this is the point that it has taken this government five years to understand. The Coalition has always understood this. This is why when it comes to who you can trust on border protection, you can trust the people who have always been strong on border protection, not a Prime Minister who one day says he's not going to lurch to the right on border protection and the next day says he's not going to lurch to the left on border protection. The trouble is Kevin Rudd will be whatever he needs to be to try to win a political advantage.
QUESTION:
What is your solution to the problem?
TONY ABBOTT:
Our solution today is the same as it's always been. It is to put in place the policies that have been proven to work and there are a number of elements to those policies. First of all, we've got to have temporary protection visas so the people smugglers don't have a product to sell. Second, we've got to have rigorous offshore processing and that's why the Coalition has always been ready to work with Nauru and PNG and other friendly countries. Third and absolutely vitally, we've got to be prepared to turn boats around where it is safe to do so. They are our borders and we have to be prepared to do what is necessary on our borders to keep our country safe and secure.
QUESTION:
On turning the boats around, most of them are in such a condition that they wouldn't make it and you could be actually condemning people to death. So how you can say turn the boats around it is not an easy thing to do, is it?
TONY ABBOTT:
No-one said it was easy, but I completely reject claims that it is impossible. It has been done before. It can be done again. A whole range of military and naval experts, Admiral Ritchie, Brigadier Hogan, General Molan have all stood up to testify in recent days that what has been done in the past can be done again. Sure, it is not easy, but again it comes down to, do you have the will to protect our country or in the end do you think that the protection of our country can be subcontracted out to others? Well, it can't be. In the end, no-one will have Australia's interests more at heart than Australians and no-one is going to be more determined to protect our country than the Australian Government. And no-one should be more determined to protect our country than the Australian Government and the Australian Prime Minister.