Border Force completes first boat turn-back under Albanese Government

The Australian Border Force has completed the first successful boat turn-back under the new Albanese Government.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles has confirmed the Australian Border Force has completed the first successful boat turn-back under the new Albanese government.

It is understood about 15 people were on board the vessel that was stopped by Australian authorities off the west coast of Christmas Island last week.

Mr Marles said the turn-back was proof that Australia’s border protection regime was unchanged.

“I think it’s important to say upfront, what this shows is that there is absolutely no change in terms of Australia’s border settings,’’ the acting Prime Minister told Sky News.

“That was always our policy. It’s been our position since 2015. So it was very clear in my mind that we were exactly what we would do when faced with this situation.

“And people smugglers should know that very clearly. There will be no change with this government.”

However, he said the Morrison Government’s politicisation of the issue on the day of the election “was a disgrace”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for an investigation into Liberal Party texts to voters in marginal seats on election day that said: “BREAKING – Aust Border Force has intercepted an illegal boat trying to reach Aus. Keep our borders secure by voting Liberal today.”

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‘I think it’s important to say upfront, what this shows is that there is absolutely no change in terms of Australia’s border settings,’ the acting Prime Minister (right) said.

Mr Albanese accused the outgoing Morrison government of seeking to “play politics with national security issues”.

“I think we saw some politics played with national security issues on Saturday afternoon, and there are millions of Australians who received text messages on Saturday afternoon that demonstrated that is the case,” he said.

Mr Marles told Sky News the information “should never have been in the public domain.”

“The text that was sent out by the Liberal Party at that moment made our country less safe, made our borders less secure,’’ he said.

He confirmed the departmental secretary Mike Pezzullo would be asked to investigate.

“We’ve asked the secretary of the Department of Home Affairs to report to us on the circumstances of the issuing of the media release on election day,” Marles told Sky News on Tuesday afternoon.

“It was not routine. These are matters which should not have ended up in the public domain.

“And what’s really clear is that the former Liberal government was far more interested in its own political interests than in the national interest.

“It sought to create division where there was none.”

An Australian Border Force boat pictured intercepting a shipment in a separate incident earlier this year. Picture: Australian Border Force

Rear Admiral Justin Jones, commander of Operation Sovereign Borders confirmed the boat had been returned to Sri Lanka in a statement.

“Today, the Joint Agency Task Force Operation Sovereign Borders safely returned passengers on board the vessel intercepted 21 May 2022 to Sri Lanka,’’ he said.

“The direction to me, by the Acting Prime Minister was clear – this Government remains committed to Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB), and to the protection of lives at sea. I, as Commander will continue to do what is necessary to deter people smugglers. We will intercept any vessel seeking to reach Australia

illegally, and safely return those on board to their point of departure or country of origin, or if not safe to do so, they will be transferred to regional processing.

“As is standard practice in any OSB operation, each passenger underwent thorough assessment of their individual’s health and protection grounds by highly trained and specialised staff. All passengers were screened out from evoking Australia’s protection obligations.”

“Following these assessments, all passengers were safely returned to Sri Lanka”.

“My message to people smugglers attempting illegal maritime ventures to Australia is

clear, don’t risk your life on a dangerous journey, Australia’s policies have not

changed, a legal and safe pathway is the only way to a life in Australia”.

Scott Morrison had warned voters earlier in the week that people smugglers were preparing to fire up their businesses in the event of a Labor win.

Text messages received on Election Day alerting people to Australian border force intercepting an illegal boat

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.”

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.

- with Ben Graham