Tampa moment looms as latest poll tightens

As a new poll shows Labor badly punished on border security, Scott Morrison campaigns in key migrant communities in Arabic, Mandarin and Korean.

Scott Morrison’s video message to asylum-seekers: “No one who attempts an illegal boat journey to Australia will ever be allowed to settle here.”

Scott Morrison is targeting ­migrant communities critical to his re-election in a bid to seize on Bill Shorten’s shift to fast-track refugee medical transfers to Australia, as the government ramps up pressure on Labor in a move drawing comparisons to John Howard’s Tampa moment.

As a new opinion poll last night showed the Opposition Leader has been badly punished after backing independent Kerryn Phelps’s medivac bill, the Prime Minister tapped into voters’ concerns, releasing an opinion piece published in three languages, Mandarin, ­Arabic and Korean, for community newspapers.

“Our plan is straightforward,” Mr Morrison wrote in his article entitled “Our Plan for Keeping Australians Safe and Secure”. “Keep our economy strong to provide the surest foundation for our security. Defend Australia with a record investment of over $200 billion in our nation’s defence capability over the next decade. Continue to protect our borders with proven policies that work, and not changing them.”

The move came as the government received a poll bounce to inch within striking distance of Labor after spending a week attacking Mr Shorten over border protection, with the Coalition trailing by 51 to 49 per cent.

An Ipsos poll released by the Nine Network last night showed a dramatic drop in support for Labor — which was leading the Coalition by 54 to 46 per cent in December — and that Mr Morrison was preferred by voters as prime minister over Mr Shorten by a margin of 48 to 38 per cent.

Grahame Morris, a former chief of staff to John Howard, last night said Mr Morrison had been given an opportunity to appear strong on border protection, just as the Howard government was given during the Tampa crisis in 2001 when it refused permission for a boat carrying more than 400 rescued refugees to enter Australian waters.

John Howard addresses the Tampa crisis in 2001: “We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.” Picture: Rohan Kelly

“There is a link between the Labor, Greens and independent-backed medivac bill and Tampa because both gave the prime minister of the day, Mr Howard and Mr Morrison, the opportunity to look strong on national security and determined as to who will and will not come to this country,” Mr Morris said.

“Mr Shorten has made a rare political mistake. There’s no doubt the refugee question has cut through again and the Prime Minister looks strong and people know he understands everything about this issue. The question now is, can the government hold that small poll gap through to the election or not?”

Former Liberal Party federal director Brian Loughnane said the poll proved that unlike state elections, federal elections were ­always tight. “Labor has been gliding and taking the election for granted. Labor’s attack on dividend imputation, negative gearing and now border security is playing to Scott Morrison’s strengths and helping unite the Coalition base,” he told The Australian.

Mr Morrison also released a video message at the weekend warning people-smugglers and would-be asylum-seekers emboldened by the passage of the medivac laws not to waste their time or money. The two-minute clip will be broadcast on YouTube in 15 languages, with a focus on countries such as ­Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

Popular Mandarin-language outlets such as Sydney Today and WeChat accounts such as “Australian Red Scarf” and “Melbourne WeLife” have published articles critical of Labor’s medivac policy.

Melbourne WeLife carried a photo of Mr Shorten with a made-up quote plastered on top saying “green cards for all refugees”. There is no suggestion the articles are linked to the Liberal Party, and Sydney Today has often editorially favoured Labor.

The Prime Minister will seek to capitalise on Labor’s border protection record as parliament resumes today for the last sitting week before the April 2 budget, amid claims from the opposition and the Greens the government has lost control of the House of Representatives. The row over the reopening of Christmas Island detention centre escalated yesterday, with Labor claiming the move was unnecessary and Mr Morrison risked encouraging ­people-smugglers to restart their trade.

Campaigning in the marginal Tasmanian seat of Bass yesterday, Mr Morrison stressed it was the Department of Home ­Affairs that had recommended the government reopen Christmas ­Island.

Labor Senate leader Penny Wong would not say whether sec­urity agencies had advised the ­opposition that the mothballed Christ­mas Island detention centre would need to restart its operations but stressed it wasn’t needed because only asylum-seekers already in offshore processing countries would be affected.

“Mr Morrison wants to run on fear … There is only one person who wants to give a message to people-smugglers that this is a change of policy and that is Mr Morrison,” she said. “He can’t run on his record ­because his record is cuts and chaos. He can’t run on stability because his record is disunity. So what does he want to do? He wants to run on fear.”

Fifty guards and other immigration workers landed on Christmas Island on Friday and Saturday to begin reopening the facility.

Under Labor’s medivac legislation, the immigration minister must approve a person’s transfer from Nauru or Manus Island unless the transferee represents a threat under the ASIO Act or has been jailed for at least 12 months for a serious crime.

Senior government MPs, led by Attorney-General Christian Porter, have said the immigration minister has lost the discretion to refuse the transfer of possible criminals, such as a person who has been charged with but not yet convicted of a sexual offence against a child. Asked whether Labor disputed the government’s claim, ­opposition immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann noted the minister had “full powers” to reject a transfer on security and serious criminality grounds, but did not say they would prevent asylum-seekers or refugees on criminal charges or facing trial from being transferred.

“Anyone transferred to Australia temporarily for medical treatment from Nauru or Manus is deemed an unlawful non-citizen and must be held in immigration detention,” he said. “Only the immigration minister can approve their release into the community based on assessment of any risks; this has not changed.”

Meanwhile, Mr Porter said the government would investigate $423 million in contracts awarded to a thinly capitalised company, Paladin Solutions, to provide sec­urity on Manus Island.

Additional Reporting: Primrose Riordan, Paige Taylor