On November 29 Mr Morrison said: "In the previous government after the announcement of the regional resettlement arrangement an average of 461 people not including crew were turning up on just over six boats every week. Since the commencement of Operation Sovereign Borders this has fallen by more than 80 per cent to just 78 people illegally arriving per week on less than two boats not including crew."
Mr Morrison and other Liberal MPs have been repeating these figures over the past few weeks, saying the reduction is the result "of our efforts under Operation Sovereign Borders".
Labor, however, disagrees. On the ABC's Q&A program on November 25, Opposition treasury spokesman Chris Bowen repeatedly said Mr Morrison's figures were "just not right". When ABC Fact Check asked for the basis of his comments, a spokesman for Mr Bowen said the comparison period the Coalition was using was "disingenuous".
"Labor had only announced the PNG arrangement on 19 July and from experience, there is always a lag in terms of policy measures having an effect," the spokesman said.
"If you look at the two weeks prior to the election, a month or so after the PNG arrangement had been announced and was being implemented, there was clearly an effect being experienced."
( ... refer back to above graph)What the numbers showFact Check has collated data on asylum seeker boat arrivals from July 19, when former prime minister Kevin Rudd announced his regional resettlement arrangement with Papua New Guinea, to November 29, when Mr Morrison made his claim.
The crux of Mr Rudd's announcement was that no more asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat would be settled in Australia
More ...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-10/scott-morrison-not-telling-full-story-asyl....