Labor will bring back the Boats

People smugglers will be back in business under a future Labor Government – the flow of boats, packed with tens of thousands of illegal maritime arrivals will start again.

Labor’s Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek refused today to commit her party to maintaining the tough border policies that have ended the years of dysfunction and failure under the Rudd-Gillard Governments.

Asked repeatedly whether Labor would keep the Coalition Government’s policies in place – she constantly refused to answer.

Eight times she was asked about Labor’s position and each time she hedged and avoided answering a very simple question – would Labor adopt the policy or at least consider it.

As the interviewer pointed out Ms Plibersek is an influential voice – she would be Deputy Prime Minister in a Labor Government – her voice is clearly against protecting the integrity of Australia’s borders.

The Coalition’s policies have stopped the boats, stopped the deaths at sea and emptied detention centres.

That is in stark contrast to Labor’s failures which saw 52,000 illegal maritime arrivals on more than 800 boats over six years and 1200 deaths at sea.

It’s a contrast Tanya Plibersek is blind to as she claimed today that Labor would “…do a better job than the Abbott Government…” on border protection.

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About the Author: Akhtar Jamal

Tribune International