Shadow Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews – Media Release – 6 September
Labor is rushing to unravel Operation Sovereign Borders to risk more deaths at sea – just as we saw during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd days – and signal Australia is open for business to people smugglers.
Today, the Albanese Government confirmed that – as soon as possible – they would;
‘transition those who have been found to be owed our protection on temporary protection visas to permanent protection’– Andrew Giles MP, Twitter, 2:05pm 6, September 2022
Around 18,000 people are currently in Australia on Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) or Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (another type of temporary visa). This number is the legacy from when Labor was last in office.
More than 50,000 people arrived under Labor on more than 800 boats, with 1,200 tragic deaths at sea – that we know about.
The Coalition ended Labor’s border chaos using the three crucial policy pillars of OSB:
- Turn-backs where safe to do so;
- Regional processing; and,
- Temporary Protection Visas.
TPVs are a major deterrent to stop people smugglers from profiting off desperate people who will pay to be brought into Australian waters on dangerously unsafe vessels.
The Coalition denied people smugglers a product to sell with TPVs – as anyone who attempted an illegal maritime journey to Australia knew they would never settle here.
Australian Border Force data has already shown that in June, 2022 Australia recorded the most illegal boat arrivals since 2015 because of the mixed messaging on border policies that Labor created during the election campaign.
108 days into an Albanese Government and Australians can already see Labor’s utter disregard for the strong border policies that have served our nation.
