Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister please update the House on the government's continued efforts to protect our borders from the terrorist threat? Minister, what recent reaction has there been to these measures and what is the government's response?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Ryan for her question. She will be pleased to know, as will her constituents, that in dealing with this current threat, this elevated level of threat of counter-terrorism, we as a government are dealing with from a greater position of strength than we certainly inherited. When we are dealing with this issue, we are dealing with an environment where our border agencies have had $700 million of cuts reversed by this government to put greater support and resources on our borders to ensure that we act from a position of strength. We are also integrating our border agencies with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to ensure that we act from a position of strength. This government is also not acting from a position of weakness, where our borders were surrendered, where crisis and chaos rained down on the previous government, completely overwhelming their border agencies because of the border chaos. It has been 85 days since the last solitary people-smuggling venture to this country. We are coming from a position of strength—

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Isaacs will desist!

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

which is my point. And, from a position of strength, we are giving our agencies the support and resources they need to do the job at this very important time.

An additional $150 million is going into our border agency specifically to deal with counter-terrorism activities. That $150 million is giving them the tools they need to do this job. The counter-terrorism unit has been in operation now for some time. Those 80 officers are in place, and being put in place, across the network. Already they have been involved directly in 40 offloads of passengers, and that includes groups of passengers, as a result of their activities since those operations began. We are also in the process of introducing outward advance passenger processing so that we can be ahead of the game when it comes to ensuring that we are providing the protection necessary; the expansion of the airline liaison officer network, which puts more people across the network outside of Australia to ensure we have a better heads up on those who are coming to Australia; and, of course, the expansion of biometrics.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. His question is, of course, based on reporting today in The Age looking at figures that Labor leaked to The Age from a Parliamentary Budget Office report. However, it is clear, even at face value, that the comparative analysis in the article is absolutely flawed. The ADF pay offer currently before the tribunal applies to military personnel, yet the figures you are referring to are military personnel and civilians.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, on a point of order: I ask again for the assistant minister to refer his comments through the chair.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the Assistant Minister for Defence and ask him to so do.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The figures the Leader of the Opposition is referring to include both military personnel and civilians; you cannot compare apples with oranges. Further, by 2017-18, Defence will employee 735 more military and 775 more reserve personnel. Furthermore, this government is reinstating the '1,000-person gap year' that that Labor government took away—that is, over 2½ thousand new people coming back in.

The PBS statement that the Leader of the Opposition referred to quite clearly makes the point that, after reaching a peak in 2010-11, the permanent force strength began to slowly decrease. Surprise surprise, under a Labor government the Defence Force started to shrink!

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Rankin is warned.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The $16 billion ripped out also helps with that shrinking. We have been rebuilding the Defence budget. We have been rebuilding the number of fighting force members. We are adding more than 1½ thousand over the next few years. We are adding an extra 1,000 in terms of the gap year. When you look at those increases in personnel, you start to get an idea of where the personnel budget is going to.

And if it were not enough to highlight the politicking of Labor in this area, perhaps someone forgot to tell the Leader of the Opposition that in the coming year there are going to be 27 pay periods. That is an extra quarter of a billion dollars. When we pay people in Defence every fortnight it is a lot of money. An extra pay period is an extra quarter of a billion dollars. That does not seem like a lot of money to the Labor opposition because they are used to pulling $16 billion out. I say to the Leader of the Opposition: instead of politicking, why don't you simply stand up today sir and apologise to the Defence men and women for the $16 billion your government pulled out?