The media adviser for immigration minister Peter Dutton replied “thanks for letting me know” the second time his office was sent a press release from Australian Border Force that appeared to threaten random visa checks and forced the cancellation of a Victorian police operation at the weekend.
The government has suggested Victorian border force officials are to blame for the press release, which incorrectly suggested ABF would be “speaking with any individual we cross paths with” during a multi-agency crackdown on crime and antisocial behaviour.
Guardian Australia revealed at the weekend the release had actually been sent to the immigration minister Peter Dutton’s office twice – as an attachment to a briefing note about the operation. A spokesman for Dutton confirmed the first email had been received on Wednesday afternoon, but said the press release had not been read because it “looked like a routine operation”.
The second email, sent from Victorian border force last Thursday morning to both Dutton’s office and the office of assistant immigration minister Michaelia Cash, appeared to be seeking an assurance from the minister’s office that someone had read the material.
It read, “Hi, apologies. I should have sent this for noting originally” and confirmed ABF was intending to publicly post the media release on Friday morning.
A staff member for Dutton replied: “Thanks for letting me know.”
Asked about the press release over the weekend the prime minister, Tony Abbott, said it was “over the top and wrong” but added that “all sorts of press releases go out all the time – but they go out under the authority of the relevant officials, they go out under the authority of the relevant agencies and that all happens at arm’s length from ministers. It all happens at arm’s length from the executive government.” Abbott said it was “very, very badly worded”.
Australian Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg said the press release had been “cleared at a low level in the organisation”, later clarifying that term included ABF’s commander for Victoria and Tasmania, Don Smith, who was quoted in the release.
Dutton, who has been accused of “going into hiding” since the furore occurred, called in to Ray Hadley’s 2UE radio show on Monday to explain that the ABF had been included in the Victorian operation as part of a crackdown on taxi drivers, that this was similar to how operations had been conducted under former Labor governments, and to attack Labor for “questioning the professionalism” of border force staff.
Dutton said the wording of the press release had been “regrettable”.
“There was a commander in Victoria who had a look at this press release, he’s a good man ... but we made a mistake, they issued a press release that was poorly worded and that’s it,” Dutton said.
“What upsets me the most is seeing Bill Shorten and (Labor’s immigration spokesman) Richard Marles out there attacking the Australian Border Force officers who are in uniform and I just won’t stand for that,” Dutton said.
“I’ve been crook over the weekend, I didn’t get out of bed, so I didn’t get to the media, but this morning I saw an interview by Mr Marles attacking the training and putting all these questions out about the professionalism of the ABF and I just won’t stand for that,” he said.
“What happened was the Victorian police approached [Australian] Border Force, they wanted to conduct an operation ... as part of that they wanted to check taxi licences and the roadworthiness of some of the taxis there.
“The border force officers are there basically to get referred people who might have questions about their visas, so they might be working in a taxi, but it may be they are a student on a visa that doesn’t have work rights, so the police interview those people, establish those facts and then refer them to the Australian Border Force officers.
“That is exactly how it has operated for years under Liberal and Labor governments. For Marles and Shorten to be attacking the men and women of [Australian] Border Force is an absolute disgrace.”
It is understood six ABF officers were to be involved in Operation Fortitude, at two separate locations.
Marles said on Sunday: “What worries me most is that this is undermining the confidence in Australia’s newest national security agency – Australian Border Force. This is an important agency with an important job to do, that is why Labor supported its creation. But here we are two months since its inception and it is being held up to ridicule.”
