Nearly 50,000 people who have had their claims for asylum rejected after arriving by plane are still in Australia awaiting deportation. That's about the entire number of people that arrived by boat under Labor from 2007-2013, which was considered a national crisis.
But it's worse than that. The latest figures mean more than100,000 asylum seekers have arrived by air during the Coalition government since it took power in 2013.
The LNP appear to have a tacit agreement with people smugglers that if they send their customers by air, that's ok. If they send by sea, that's not ok as it's politically inconvenient.
Under Dutton the situation is getting increasingly worse. Those who apply for a protection visa have the same workplace rights as Australian citizens while they await a decision. So enter under a tourist visa, start work, get found out then go through a court battle and appeals process and you can keep working all the while.
The Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo, argued last year that the problem was small compared with the number of travellers to Australia. Mr Pezzullo said, the “marginal gain” from reducing the number would be out of proportion to the gain to the country.
So with the immigration problem twice as bad under Scott Morrison as under Labor, the government is effectively saying it was never a problem anyway.
It was just a politically convenient issue to scare people.
