Senator BACK (Western Australia) (16:10): I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate and I place on record my congratulations to Minister Morrison and Assistant Minister Cash for executing so effectively the coalition policy, which was promised at the last election, to stop the boats. I think it has been an absolute testament to the capacity of that minister and his assistant minister—led, of course, by the Prime Minister and the cabinet. I speak for the more than 1,100 people who are known to have perished in the 2,200 days, or six years, of Labor government—approximately one every second day. I say those known, because as part of Operation Sovereign Borders, I had the opportunity earlier this year to spend some time at Larrakeyah Barracks in Darwin. I asked the Navy personnel—the very ones who were pushed to the limit as a result of the flawed policies of the Labor and Greens government of the time—whether they thought that the figure of 1,100 people known to have perished was accurate. Each of them looked at me ruefully and said, 'Senator Back, we know that to be an absolutely conservative figure'. Given that statistic, in the 400 days of the coalition government to date, we can safely say that at least 200 people have had their lives saved as a result of not falling to the people smugglers and not being put to sea on unseaworthy boats in sea conditions that they should never have been in. Of course, we all know what the result of that has been. This is what this is about. This is what this particular issue concerns. I do not recall Senator Hanson-Young being vocal in those days when we were feeding the people smugglers and when people were putting their unaccompanied children on boats. Senator Hanson-Young interjecting— Senator BACK: I did not hear Senator Hanson-Young once open her mouth and speak about the refugees, those people who had been processed and found to be genuine, rotting for second and even third generations in refugee camps. I never heard this senator open her mouth once during all that time. All I hear her doing today is bleating away in the circumstances. Let me go back to the time when the Howard government was in power— Senator Milne: Madam Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order about reflecting on other members of parliament. I would ask that Senator Back sticks with the truth. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Back, please continue. Senator BACK: I will go back to speaking about the then shadow minister, Ms Gillard, during the last five years of the Howard government, when only two people per month arrived illegally by sea—in contrast, of course, to the figure of 3,000 people. It was during the time when the odd vessel did turn up—by Jove it was infrequent!—that the then shadow minister Ms Gillard came out with the great statement, 'Another boat, another policy failure'! I will tell you how many there were in the six years of the Labor government. There were 800 policy failures because 800 boats brought some 50,000 illegal arrivals to this country, costing the economy more than $12 billion in added costs. Senator Hanson-Young came into this place and asked a question yesterday, and she had a motion before this chamber today, seeking information from Minister Scott Morrison regarding allegations of improper conduct on Nauru. Quite properly, through the assistant minister here in this place, Minister Morrison said that he would direct his department to fully investigate these allegations. One would hope they are not true. One would hope there is not one element of truth. But what was Senator Hanson-Young's motivation in going straight into the public arena and speaking of these matters as if they are facts. They are not facts until proven, and I can assure you that if I know anything of Mr Morrison, both as a minister and as a person, he will be directing his department to report fully. I am sure that through Assistant Minister Cash we will learn the outcome of that circumstance. In the short time I have left, I wish to direct the attention of the chamber to the commitment of the Abbott government to increasing the number of genuine refugees up to 20,000 people—that is, 20,000 people who will be able to come when we stop the illegal boat arrivals.