Nauru and Manus 'a complete debacle'

In an interview with Michael Kenny, the opposition's Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration, Michaelia Cash said the problem was the government's own making after it softened its asylum seeker policies in 2008.

“26 and a half thousand people later, the Labor Party has finally realised they made what is possibly one of the greatest policy failure decisions in all time,” she said. “They now have to sort it out themselves.”

Senator Cash said under the Howard Government, Australia had implemented measures that had successfully forced a handful of boats to be towed back.

She added that the Gillard government's policy of offshore processing was inadequate and more measures needed to be introduced for stronger border protection.