Doorstop
13 July 2010
Australian Crime Commission, Canberra
Topics: Tony Abbott won’t ‘turn back the boats’; border protection: election timing; climate change
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Yesterday the former Minister for Immigration, Philip Ruddock, made clear how dangerous it is to turn back boats and effectively exposed Tony Abbott's promise to be based on a lie, that is, that we can in any way effectively turn boats back.
Now, we've had a second member of Tony Abbott's team come out and explain why it is not going to be an effective deterrent in 99 per cent of the cases.
This is exposing Tony Abbott's lie to be the fraud that it is.
He wants to go to the election - he wants to go to the Australian people with a policy that is no more than a slogan and, indeed, he's been found out.
Tony Abbott knows it doesn't work, Philip Ruddock knows it doesn't work and now Gary Humphries knows it doesn't work and it's about time the Opposition came up with an honest, effective policy on border protection.
JOURNALIST: Minister, what do you say to some claims that the Government's policy on border protection at the moment, and announcements, is a dog whistle?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Look, last week the Prime Minister made clear that we needed to ensure we have a sustainable regional framework approach to border protection and irregular migration and what we need to do, therefore, is to engage with the region to ensure we do just that.
The Prime Minister made clear there is no quick fix and anyone pretending to say there is a quick fix is just acting in a phoney manner. The Prime Minister is, of course, focusing, as is this government, on ensuring we get a sustainable regional protection framework and that's why we'll continue to prosecute the argument for a long - a long-lasting solution to this complex challenge.
JOURNALIST: The Governor-General has cut short her trip. Any sign of an election coming?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: I have no, no information whatsoever in relation to those matters. The Prime Minister, of course, will make a decision when she believes it's appropriate for the nation and you might have to direct your questions to her.
JOURNALIST: On another topic, just the - what's been in the news the last couple of days about the ETS and yesterday the report coming out saying that the ETS - a delayed ETS may well mean higher electricity prices for consumers. Do you have a view on that?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: There's a stark choice for Australians when we do go to an election. We have a government that believes that climate change is real, we have an Opposition leader who believes it's crap. Thank you very much.
