Good governments don’t play games with the country’s reputation.
Last night, we saw Labor as its worst, with the revelation that Julia Gillard and Bob Carr have secretly redirected $375 million in foreign aid funding to pay for its border protection blow-outs.
The government that lied about the carbon tax to win an election, just did the same thing again, by lying to the world about Australia’s aid budget to win a seat at the UN.
And then Bob Carr tried to be tricky and hide what he did.
Click here to see Bob Carr’s tricky response.
This action is another breach of trust, another example of Labor’s inability to manage the budget and another consequence of Labor’s border protection failures.
To date, Labor’s failure to secure our borders has resulted in:
Australians, along with the rest of the world, cannot have confidence in a government that repeatedly breaks its word, and lets people smugglers determine the foreign aid budget. The Gillard Government is now the third largest recipient of Australian foreign aid.
The Coalition has a plan to make our borders safe and secure again. We will:
Regards,
The Hon Julie Bishop MP
Acting Leader of the Opposition
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Shadow Minister for Trade
Last night, we saw Labor as its worst, with the revelation that Julia Gillard and Bob Carr have secretly redirected $375 million in foreign aid funding to pay for its border protection blow-outs.
The government that lied about the carbon tax to win an election, just did the same thing again, by lying to the world about Australia’s aid budget to win a seat at the UN.
And then Bob Carr tried to be tricky and hide what he did.
Click here to see Bob Carr’s tricky response.
This action is another breach of trust, another example of Labor’s inability to manage the budget and another consequence of Labor’s border protection failures.
To date, Labor’s failure to secure our borders has resulted in:
- Over 31,000 arrivals on 540 boats;
- Hundreds of deaths at sea;
- $6.6 billion budget blow out; and
- Incalculable damage to Australia’s international reputation.
Australians, along with the rest of the world, cannot have confidence in a government that repeatedly breaks its word, and lets people smugglers determine the foreign aid budget. The Gillard Government is now the third largest recipient of Australian foreign aid.
The Coalition has a plan to make our borders safe and secure again. We will:
- Give the Navy instructions to turn the boats around where safe to do so. Just like they did under the Howard Government;
- We will re-introduce Temporary Protection Visas and deprive the people smugglers of their business model;
- Work more effectively with Indonesia to stop people coming into our region. Tony Abbott will visit Indonesia within a week of an election;
- Support Sri Lanka to stop people leaving their shores and returning those coming on boats from Sri Lanka before they reach our waters; and
- We will abandon Labor’s half-hearted approach to border security and restore the proven resolve of the Howard Government.
Regards,
The Hon Julie Bishop MP
Acting Leader of the Opposition
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Shadow Minister for Trade
