Albo under fire days into top job as Greens slam ‘shameful’ decision

While Anthony Albanese was in Japan, his deputy made a tough call over Labor’s first move in government. It hasn’t gone down well.

Labor has sent a warning sign to people smugglers as it confirmed a Sri Lankan asylum seeker vessel was turned back from Australia’s border just one day after Anthony Albanese’s government was sworn into office – prompting outcry from the Greens.

It is understood around 15 people were on the boat that was stopped on election day by Australian Border Force off the west coast of Christmas Island after almost making it to the mainland.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles ordered authorities to proceed with the asylum seeker “take-back procedure” – a move initiated by former home affairs Minister Karen Andrews.

One of the key issues going into the election was national security and the Coalition had sought to make Labor appear weak on borders. Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison even claimed people smugglers were ready to fire up business again in the event of a Labor win.

However, Mr Marles said the government had not hesitated in turning the boat back, adding those aboard were screened and found not to be owed protection by Australia.

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Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles took the decision to turn the boat back.

Anthony Albanese was in Japan at the time. Picture: Issei Kato – Pool/Getty Images

“They have been returned to Sri Lanka, and that has happened in a very ordinary and routine way,” Mr Marles told Sky News. “And people smugglers out there should know that very clearly; there will be no change under this government, and Australia retains its strong border stance.”

It’s understood the migrants were taken aboard an ABF vessel and returned to Sri Lanka by air, but government officials have not commented on the details of the operation.

The Greens, which will hold considerable power in the Senate, said the move was “unnecessary, ineffective, inhumane and contrary to international law”.

“Australians voted for change and deserve so much better than a shameful continuation of Scott Morrison‘s brutal policy,” the party’s immigration spokesman Nick McKim told The Australian.

“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” he later tweeted, quoting The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. https://t.co/hcWJFkfEpk

— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) May 24, 2022

Throughout the election, Mr Albanese said asylum seekers attempting to arrive in Australia by boat would be turned back under his government. He also confirmed he would keep offshore detention centres open.

Labor looking into election day texts

This all comes as the Albanese government will reportedly investigate the arrival of the Sri Lankan asylum seeker boat on the morning of the election – after the Liberals sent mass texts out to voters about it on voting day.

On Saturday, the Liberals sent a mass of robo-texts to voters after seizing on Mr Morrison’s announcement that an asylum seeker vessel had been intercepted apparently en route to Australia.

The move outraged senior Labor members, who questioned the timing of the announcement and the Liberal Party’s immediate mass text messages to voters in marginal seats.

The message read: “BREAKING – Australian Border Force has intercepted an illegal boat trying to reach Australia. Keep our borders secure by voting Liberal today. https://vote.liberal.org.au.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reported multiple senior Labor sources confirmed there would be a review into how the boat got so close to Australia and the timing of the disclosure. News.com.au has reached out to Mr Albanese’s office for comment.

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The texts were sent to voters in marginal seats.

A spokesman for the Liberal Party confirmed it sent text messages to an undisclosed amount of mobile phone numbers on Saturday afternoon advising people to vote Liberal to “keep our borders secure”.

Screenshots of the messages were shared widely on social media and were received by voters in tightly contested seats including Gilmore, Corangamite and Bennelong.

The Australian Electoral Commission said it was aware the texts had been sent out but these types of messages were not prohibited by the electoral act, with political parties exempt from privacy and spam laws.

Refugee advocate and former Socceroo Craig Foster said the messages were “absolutely disgusting”.

“The use of vulnerable people, minority communities to stoke fear, division, demonisation for political gain,” he wrote on Twitter.

“My deepest apologies and solidarity with our beautiful Australian-Sri Lankan community for being used in this way. We must be better than this.”

Not long before the messages were sent, Mr Morrison used his final media conference of the campaign to announce a boat had been intercepted on Saturday morning after making its way from Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is currently in Japan for a Quad meeting. Picture: David Gray/Getty Images

Mr Morrison claimed he wanted to share the information with Australians in the spirit of “full transparency”.

“I’ve been here to stop this boat, but in order for me to be there to stop those that may come from here, you need to vote Liberal and Nationals,” he said.

“In the interests of full transparency, in the middle of an election campaign, the Labor Party was advised of this and a statement has been issued by the border protection authorities.”

Mr Morrison had previously declared there would be no public discussion of “water matters”, when he was immigration Minister and Australia began turning back asylum seeker vessels at sea in November 2013.

On Saturday, Greens leader Adam Bandt questioned the “unbelievable” timing of the day’s events.

“Anyone who remembers the Tampa crisis knows the Liberals will stoop to any depths to win votes,” he wrote on Twitter.

“This looks like a cynical and disgusting stunt, and one final reason people should vote Scott Morrison out today.”