“In the last seven months there has not been a single successful people-smuggling venture to Australia and this remains the case even for the venture that remains at sea.”
About 17,000 asylum-seekers arrived on about 200 boats in the corresponding period last year, under the previous Labor government.
Labor and the Greens said the Coalition’s border-protection policies were not working.
Labor’s acting immigration spokeswoman, Michelle Rowland, said: “What we saw today was an admission from Scott Morrison that he has lost control of his portfolio.”
