Mr Abbott was interrupted during his address to reporters in Perth by a passerby, who took exception to Mr Abbott's description of asylum seekers arriving in boats as ''illegal''. ''It's not illegal, that's a lie,'' the man interjected. ''You know it's a lie.''
Undeterred, Mr Abbott went on.''If you've got the problem that this government has created, you are obviously going to have a problem of what to do with people who come by boat, women and children who come by boat. Now, you can't avoid detention of women and children when you've got the border protection failures of this government.''
The online reaction was swift, with a petition launched calling on Mr Abbott to apologise for his use of the word, and Twitter users outraged at the use of the term. Refugee advocates accused the opposition of fear-mongering.
