Retired major general Jim Molan says senior officials predicted people smugglers would make their way to Australia around the time of the federal election. 

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has admitted there could be a wave of illegal vessels headed for Australia after 20 Sri Lankan asylum seekers were sent back last week.

Senator Molan says many people smugglers would have expected a Labor win, which would have made it easier for them to enter the country.

He tells Ben Fordham many predicted this would happen.

“This is not just some kind of esoteric argument this is a real world argument.

“We all might have been a bit surprised about the miracle of the Morrison government and no one more surprised, I suspect, than people smugglers and their customers on board.”

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