Border boat clip baffles
Defence Minister admits video ‘pretty unusual’
DEFENCE Minister Peter Dutton has described the timing of an extraordinary new video warning people against coming to Australia by boat as “pretty unusual”.
The man in charge of Australia’s militant Operation Sovereign Borders has released a video on YouTube in multiple languages warning the nation’s borders remain closed to people smugglers.
Royal Australian Navy Rear Admiral Justin Jones, commander of Maritime Border Command and Operation
Sovereign Borders, says in the clip that the only way to come to Australia is with a valid visa.
Mr Dutton said on Friday the department would have made the video “off their own initiative”. “It’s pretty unusual, I’ve got to say. There’s not a precedent that I can recall for this,” he told Nine.
“They will be looking at the intelligence, there may be activity on the water at the moment and I suspect in part it’s because they are hearing these mixed and divided messages over the last few weeks.”
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles also appeared on Nine where he rebutted Mr Dutton’s claims.
“I don’t think this is unprecedented in the first instance in terms of this ad,” he said.
“Second, Border Force understand, the policy has not and will not change … They understand that Labor’s position is completely the same as the government’s, which is what we have all been saying.”
The Coalition has during the federal election campaign sought to revive the debate around boat arrivals as a key security issue, framing Labor as the weaker choice on borders.
Both parties have been firm in saying anyone who arrives in Australia by boat will not be allowed to settle here.
Labor has for years supported two of the three pillars of the Coalition’s Operation Sovereign Borders – boat turnbacks and offshore processing.
Mr Dutton has been among the Coalition MPs to seize on the fact Labor doesn’t support the third pillar — temporary protection visas (TPVs).
Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally has said the party doesn’t support TPVs on the grounds that they can leave refugees in limbo, given they were only been issued to people who arrived in Australia before Operation Sovereign Borders came into effect in 2013.
Mr Dutton earlier claimed people smugglers could be inspired to restart maritime journeys to Australia after looking at the contested election messaging around boat arrivals.
“They will be saying, ‘Look, there is going to be a change in government, a change in the border protection policy. Pay your money, you’ll get to Australia under a new government’,” Mr Dutton said. “That is deeply concerning.” An Australian Border Force spokesman said its primary objective was to prevent lives being lost at sea. “Operation Sovereign Borders is committed to stopping people smugglers profiting at the expense of vulnerable individuals,” he said.