AUSTRALIA has officially gone two years without people smugglers successfully bringing an illegal boat into the country.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton will this morning acknowledge the milestone at a border protection facility in Queensland.
The government’s uncompromising turnback policy has led to 28 boats being turned around, with 700 people on board, since Operation Sovereign Borders was implemented when the Coalition came to power in 2013.
Seventeen detention facilities have now been closed, all children moved from detention and nobody has died at sea during the operation.
It is stark contrast to the 50,000 people who arrived illegally on more than 800 boats during six years of Labor. More than 1200 people died at sea during the period while about 30,000 people from the legacy caseload are still being processed.