The federal government is distancing itself from the bungled Australian Border Force operation saying it would never condone random visa spot checks.
The prime minister, Tony Abbott, said his department had no prior knowledge of the operation in Melbourne, which was cancelled following protests and criticism of his government.
He said nothing untoward had happened except the agency’s issuing a poorly-worded press release, describing it as a mistake and “over-the-top”.
“We would never stop people randomly on the street and demand their visa details,” he told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.
Such operational news releases were often issued under the authority of agency officials and not the government, Abbott said.
“That all happens at arm’s length from ministers, at arm’s length from the executive government.”
Government frontbencher Simon Birmingham said it was up to the border force commissioner, Roman Quaedvlieg, to figure out what went wrong.
“It’s really now up to him to get to the bottom of how this mistake occurred within his agency,” he said on Saturday.
But Labor demanded the government take responsibility for the “quasi police state” plan rather than shifting blame on the agency.
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, described the saga as one of the government’s most “catastrophically silly” ideas.
“It’s like a uniformed version of the Prince Philip decision,” he told reporters in Perth.
The initially-circumspect Labor leader stepped up his criticism a day after the operation was abandoned, saying it took some time for the full ramifications to sink in.
“As more facts came to light yesterday, I don’t think there’s a single Victorian and indeed a single Australian whose jaw just didn’t hit the ground.”
The former independent MP Tony Windsor, who is considering a return to politics, accused the government of orchestrating a deliberate fear campaign to distract the public.
“I’ve got no doubt that some of these people in Abbott’s government hope that something goes wrong domestically – that they can taunt a Muslim into doing something,” he said.
Abbott dismissed as “a bit of hyperventilation” accusations the government was part of a political plan to shift the public focus on national security announcements.
The Greens called for the powers of border force officers to be clarified. “It needs to be cleaned up; they’re not an arm of the military and they’re not a police force,” Sarah Hanson-Young told the ABC.
“It’s important that we get to the bottom of whose idea this was, who authorised it and why on earth anyone in the department or in the minister’s office thought this was an appropriate thing to do.
“It’s not clear at all what they think their role is, what indeed the powers are.”
Quaedvlieg said a staff member’s clumsily worded press release was to blame for the cancellation of Operation Fortitude after public ridicule and protest. The release quoted the agency’s Tasmania and Victoria regional commander, Don Smith, promising border force members would speak “with any individual we cross paths with” in the Melbourne CBD.
The union representing the agency’s officers has said it will take safety complaints to the government and the immigration department.
The Community and Public Sector Union is concerned workers have been potentially put at risk for political aims.
“While border force staff have been involved in these types of operations before, they have never been publicised in this way,” the union’s national secretary, Nadine Flood, said on Friday afternoon.
“They were deeply concerned at the suggestion they would be stopping all people on the street, which is not how their work has been done in the past.
“We are calling on the federal government to stop cynically exploiting the work of the Australian Border Force for its own political ends, potentially putting these officers at risk.”
Abbott also defended the agency against ridicule, saying anyone who demeaned officers should be ashamed.
“The idea that they should be pilloried on the basis of a badly-worded press release just shows that some people readily get things completely out of proportion.”
The opposition’s immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, asked why his government counterpart, Peter Dutton, was not out explaining why border force planned to run random spot checks on Melbourne’s streets. “We need better than a minister who hides in bed with his doona pulled over his head,” he told Channel Nine.
Dutton referred all inquiries about the operation on Friday to Victoria police, who cancelled Operation Fortitude five hours after it was announced due to a “high level of community interest”. The state’s police minister, Wade Noonan, said the government had originally been told it would target anti-social behaviour and aim to get commuters home safely.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
