Australia’s defence force has boosted surveillance aircraft and ships to detect possible asylum seeker boats after the Coalition claimed people smugglers would market temporary protection visa changes to asylum seekers.
According to evidence to Senate estimates on Wednesday evening, Defence has provided “surge” support after a request from the Operation Sovereign Borders commander, Rear Admiral Justin Jones.
On Monday the Albanese government unveiled changes for 19,000 temporary protection and safe haven enterprise visa holders – who arrived before OSB started in 2013 – to gain permanent resolution of their status visas.
The shadow home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, has claimed the move could result in an increase in people smuggling, although the government insists no incentive is created because the changes apply only to the legacy caseload and there is “zero chance” of new arrivals being allowed to stay in Australia.
On Wednesday the vice chief of defence, Vice Admiral David Johnston, said “the defence force generally surges as is required to support Operation Sovereign Borders”.
“That is available to the government to employ the ADF in that nature, and we are currently providing surge support,” he told the Senate defence committee. “It is of the nature of additional aircraft surveillance and additional ships that are patrolling in our northern waters. The surge has been put in place in the last few weeks.”
Johnston would not say whether the request had been made in response to the TPV changes.
On Tuesday Border Force published a video warning prospective asylum seekers that changes to TPVs would not improve their chances of coming to Australia by boat.
“The Australian government’s decision to resolve legacy temporary visa caseloads does not change how Australia protects its borders,” Jones says in the video.
“Let me be clear, anyone who attempts an unauthorised boat voyage to Australia will be turned back to their country of departure, returned to their home country or transferred to a regional processing country.
“If you attempt an illegal maritime journey you will not settle in Australia. You have zero chance of success.”
On Tuesday Coalition senators quizzed the home affairs department about its incoming ministerial brief that TPVs were a “complementary measure” of OSB and that “changes to any single element of OSB, without effective mitigation, may result in a weakening of the overall denial and deterrence effects delivered by the operation as a whole”.
The department’s secretary, Michael Pezzullo said the Albanese government had enacted the TPV policy after months spent working through “mitigants” to prevent people smuggling ventures.
On Thursday Andrews accused Labor of “pulling apart the key pieces of Operation Sovereign Borders” as demonstrated by “the fact that additional defence assets have been moved in to protect our northern borders”.
The surge in capability was “clearly as a result of the government’s actions in relation to temporary protection visas”, she told reporters in Canberra.
Andrews told Sky News that although Labor argues “only so a certain group of people will now get the right or the ability to seek permanency here in Australia” the TPV policy allows people smugglers to argue “that Australia is open for business, that if you stay here long enough, you will get permanency here in Australia”.
“About one boat a month has already been intercepted on its way to Australia by Australian officials … There have been more boats that have been stopped by the Sri Lankan navy, potentially on their way here to Australia, in fact, most likely on their way here to Australia.
“So we know that there has already been an increase in boat arrivals into or towards Australia – this is very concerning.”
Pat Conroy, the minister for international development and the Pacific, said under OSB “every single boat is turned back or returned”.
“The important point here is that there is a zero chance of resettlement for anyone coming to this country without a visa,” Conroy told ABC News Breakfast.
“Our policy is the same as the last government’s policy when it comes to this operation – every single boat is turned back or returned.”
