Senator CASH (Western Australia—Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women) (14:36): Yes, I can inform the Senate as to how we did it—quite easily actually. We restored the proven border protection policies that were followed by the former Liberal government, the Howard government, which those on the other side quite unsuccessfully wound back in August 2008. And, in restoring those policies, we did it with commitment, with resolve and with perseverance. These, of course, are the policies which those on the other side—even on the last sitting day of the Senate last year—said would never work. They continued to say that in the face of all of the evidence. On that point, let me just look at the evidence. Senator Cormann: They said it couldn't be done. Senator CASH: They did, Senator Cormann; they did say it would never be done. But let us look at whether or not Operation Sovereign Borders is actually achieving the results that the government said that it would. Look at the facts: in the 12 months before Operation Sovereign Borders commenced we witnessed an astonishing 401 boat arrivals carrying over 26,000 illegal maritime arrivals. That is just in the 12 months prior to OSB commencing. The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Senator Wright: Mr President, I raise a point of order that the minister is seeking to mislead the parliament and the Australian people. It is not illegal to seek asylum in Australia. The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order; that is a debating point. Senator CASH: I have to say: 12 months and 26,000 versus, under Operation Sovereign Borders, just one people-smuggling venture of 157 people—and all of those persons were transferred to offshore processing. That is success in policy, and it is a policy that those on the other side continue to oppose to their peril. They have basically stated to the Australian people that if they are re-elected we will see a return to the chaos and the cost of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor governments when it comes to losing control of our borders.