Abbott proposes to buy back boats

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott was channelling former prime John Howard as he announced more details of the Coalition’s border protection policy, which includes plans to buy back fishing boats in Indonesia before they are sold to people smugglers.

Mr Abbott was in Darwin to reveal details of the $420 million Regional Deterrence Framework, a “common sense” measure designed to stop asylum-seekers travelling by boat through the region.

He said a “single-minded focus on deterrence” was the only way to stop asylum-seekers travelling to Australia by boat, at one point referring to asylum-seekers as “cargo”.

“This is our country and we will decide who comes here,” Mr Abbott said in an almost carbon copy of the language Mr Howard made famous during the 2001 election campaign.

A Coalition government would spend $20 million engaging Indonesian villages to disrupt people smuggling operations, including a capped boat buy-back scheme and paying cash rewards to impoverished Indonesians who provide vital intelligence.

Mr Abbott would not be drawn on details for the boat buy-backs or bounty payments, saying it would be “left to the discretion of our people on the ground” working with Indonesian authorities.

“It makes a lot more sense to pay a few thousand dollars in Indonesia rather than spend $12 million once these boats bring their cargo to Australia,” Mr Abbott said.

Not surprisingly, a string of senior Labor figures lined up to ridicule the policy, describing it as “crazy” and “mad”.