Operation Sovereign Borders, Australian Border Force on high alert as people smugglers target Australia

Operation Sovereign Borders is on high-alert for people smuggling ventures amid a rush of asylum seekers into Indonesia, releasing new deterrence videos following the High Court ruling.

OSB commander, Rear Admiral Justin Jones, has filmed 29 deterrence videos targeting asylum seekers.

Operation Sovereign Borders and Australian Border Force officials are on high alert for people smuggling ventures to Australia amid a rush of asylum seekers into Indonesia and surge in illegal maritime activity across South-East Asia.

Joint Agency Taskforce OSB has ramped up communications campaigns and operations in the region following the High Court ruling that asylum seekers without prospect of being settled elsewhere – including high-risk offenders – can no longer be held in indefinite detention.

There is heightened activity among Rohingya, Bangladeshi, Afghan and Pakistani asylum seekers, whom regional authorities fear are being targeted by people smugglers operating out of Indonesia and neighbouring countries.

The Australian understands that in a warning to those considering travelling by boat illegally to Australia, 12 unauthorised maritime arrivals apprehended on an isolated stretch of the Western Australia Kimberley coastline last Wednesday were flown to Nauru within 41 hours.

The group that reached northern WA is the second cohort to be sent to Nauru since September, when 11 asylum-seekers were intercepted at sea and transferred to the Pacific Island. Before that, Australia had not sent any asylum-seekers to Nauru for nine years.

OSB commander, Rear Admiral Justin Jones, has filmed 29 deterrence videos targeting asylum seekers in South Asia and South-East Asia to “address lies and misinformation, and pre-empt rumours circulating in target countries and communities”. More videos will be released in coming days.

The campaign, delivered in 16 languages including Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Dari, Pashto, Rohingya, Sinhalese, Tamil, Farsi, Kurdish, Somali, Sudanese Arabic, Urdu, Indonesian and Vietnamese, targets asylum seekers and people smugglers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Thailand, India and Vietnam.

There have been 11 known people smuggling ventures to Australia since May last year, including one boat intercepted the day before the federal election.

Less than 24 hours after the 12 illegal maritime arrivals were apprehended in WA, Indonesian police stopped a group of Bangladeshi nationals from boarding a boat after they reportedly paid a people smuggler $10,000 each to travel from the coastal town of Citepus to nearby Christmas Island. The Sydney Morning Herald said the Bangladeshi boat organiser, married to an Indonesian, is linked to a wider smuggling syndicate.

Indonesian police and fishermen on the weekend launched patrols in seas off the country’s western province in response to the arrival of almost 1100 Rohingya asylum seekers in recent weeks. Rohingyas, a persecuted Muslim ethnic minority group in Myanmar, travel by boat to Indonesia or Malaysia from refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Rear Admiral Jones has released videos in the region in recent days and weeks warning that those who travel illegally by boat to Australia “have zero chance of success”.

“The recent High Court of Australia decision does not change Australia’s tough border protection policies. People smugglers will spread lies about this decision in an attempt to take your money, put your life at risk and offer you a futile journey in return,” Rear Admiral Jones said in the OSB video.

“Let me be clear: Anyone, anywhere who attempts to illegally migrate to Australia by boat will be stopped, returned to their country of origin or point of departure, or transferred to a regional processing country.

“You will never settle in Australia. Australia’s border and defence personnel are constantly working. Our borders are watched and every vessel is closely monitored, all day, every day. You have zero chance of success.”

Australian border officials intercept an illegal boat with 29 Sri Lankans on-board headed for Australia.

A Department of Home Affairs spokesman said “the people smuggling business model is built on the exploitation of information and selling lies to vulnerable people who will give up everything to risk their lives at sea”.

“OSB is continuously monitoring rumours and misinformation being spread by people smugglers, and developing new strategic communication products to counter these lies and deter people from dangerous boat journeys,” the spokesman said.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil, who travelled to Sri Lanka following last year’s election to thwart people smugglers through enhanced co-operation with local authorities, said the government’s “commitment to OSB is straightforward and resolute”.

“We support it and we implement it and that’s why everyone who has tried to come to Australia by boat since we were elected is either awaiting return in Nauru or already back in their home country,” Ms O’Neil, who last week accused Peter Dutton of politicising OSB, told The Australian.

“OSB was in a mess when we arrived in office. That’s why we’ve invested almost half a billion in extra funding, and doubled funding for strategic comms. Our government has no hesitation whatsoever in resourcing this properly, and making the tough decisions needed to keep our borders safe.”

The government has allocated $1.59bn for border enforcement and management this year, which it says is more than was budgeted by the Coalition.

With the government under pressure on national security, Mr Dutton last week warned Anthony Albanese had given people smugglers a green light to resume operations after the 12 asylum seekers landed in remote WA. The former home affairs and immigration minister warned that abolishing temporary protection visas and watering down enforcement powers created a “pull factor” for people smugglers.

The annual budget for OSB’s anti-people smuggling strategic communications campaign was lifted from $8.5m to $17.1m in 2022-23. The additional funding was invested into research and social, digital and traditional media advertising campaigns.

Since May 2019, OSB’s strategic communications campaign has reached 292.2 million “potential irregular immigrants” via 2.1 billion digital ad impressions and 723.4 million video views.

The Zero Chance campaign, launched in mid-2019, focuses on targeted advertising and community engagement via a range of digital platforms. It includes roadshows, education school competitions and youth training programs. OSB works closely with creative agencies whose employees live and work in target communities and help develop tailored culturally-appropriate content.

A Choose Your Path campaign includes interactive video content to educate and engage target audiences, including materials highlighting the consequences of legal versus illegal migration.

Unbranded radio content based on “testimonials of people who have attempted migrating illegally by boat” is broadcast in target countries where radio is a high engagement medium.