Peter Dutton accuses Labor of taking a ‘ham-fisted’ approach to boat arrivals

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has blasted Labor for taking a “ham-fisted” approach to one security issue.

Peter Dutton has accused the Albanese government of taking a “ham-fisted” approach to border protection.

The Opposition Leader on Thursday repeated his claim that people smugglers would look to take advantage of the Labor government, particularly as Sri Lanka grapples with an economic crisis.

“The events around the boats coming out of Sri Lanka, that’s of the government’s own making and that’s because they’ve responded in a ham-fisted way,” he told reporters.

“They are sophisticated criminal syndicates and are marketing on that basis to people. The last thing I want to see is boats restart.

“I don’t want to see women and children back into detention as they were when Labor was last in power.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has repeatedly tried to revive the debate around borders. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Mr Dutton, who was once immigration minister, has repeatedly sought to revive the borders debate and frame Labor as the weaker choice on boat arrivals.

Earlier on Thursday, he claimed the Albanese government didn’t follow the Operation Sovereign Borders policy, which was introduced under the Coalition almost a decade ago.

“The sugar is back on the table,” he told 2GB Radio.

Labor has for years supported two of the three pillars of Operation Sovereign Borders – boat turnbacks and offshore processing.

But the party doesn’t support the third pillar of temporary protection visas on the grounds that they can leave refugees in limbo because they were only issued to people who arrived in Australia before Operation Sovereign Borders came into effect in 2013.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil is on a diplomatic trip to Sri Lanka this week as the country faces an economic crisis. Picture Kym Smith

Labor’s policy on asylum seekers is overall in step with the Coalition’s – that no one who arrives by boat will be allowed to resettle in Australia.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil is in Sri Lanka where she has stressed that Australia maintains this hardline approach.

Ms O’Neil will meet with the Sri Lankan President, Prime Minister and other officials.

Her visit comes after boats carrying asylum seekers were intercepted en route to Australia from Sri Lanka, which is experiencing its worst economic crisis in 70 years.

More than 300 Sri Lankans have reportedly tried to flee to Australia in the past few weeks as their home country faces widespread shortages of essential supplies.

The Australian government has committed $50m in development assistance and emergency humanitarian relief in response to the crisis.

Australia has also provided funding to install GPS tracking devices on more than 4000 Sri Lankan fishing vessels that partially aimed at detecting asylum seeker voyages to Australia.