June 30, 2023
Almost two months after it was first reported by the media, the Australian Border Force has finally confirmed in their latest Operation Sovereign Borders update that an illegal maritime arrival carrying 41 people from Sri Lanka was detected and intercepted in May.
This is the latest publicly known vessel to attempt to illegally reach Australia by sea since Labor was elected, in a situation that has been described by OSB Commander Rear Admiral Justin Jones as the highest operational tempo in a decade.
The Coalition is concerned about the heightening risk to Australia’s border security and attempts to water down OSB by the Albanese government.
The Albanese government has already begun the process of dismantling and defunding existing border security policies, including the ending of temporary protection visas, a rush to downgrade offshore processing facilities, and a cumulative $600 million cut to border security in the last budget, which the Australian Border Force Commissioner confirmed left his frontline forces "stretched."
We know the Albanese government is facing increasing pressure from within the Labor Party to weaken Australia’s successful border protection policies, with media reports a motion will be put at Labor’s upcoming national conference calling for offshore processing to abolished.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil publicly trashed offshore processing as a “festering sore” following the Albanese government’s decision to mothball the offshore processing centre on Nauru and secretly shift people off Christmas Island.
By unravelling Australia’s successful border protection policies, the Albanese government is sending a dangerous message to people smugglers that Australia is open for business. The Albanese government must resist political pressure to weaken Australia’s borders. Any failure to do so risks restarting the human trafficking tragedy we saw when Labor was last in power.
