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Labor and its media mates fail to understand the new refugee policy
Andrew Bolt
November 18 2013
WHOSE side is Labor and its media mates on? The people smugglers or those trying to stop them?
Labor Green Loon's VOTE People
For two months journalists have attacked Immigration Minister Scott Morrison for not instantly telling them how and when boats have been intercepted, and who was on board.
Every press conference, it's the same tantrum. "Minister, are you hiding the boats, not stopping them? We're not being told when a boat is turned back."
On Thursday, the Senate backed the journalists, with the Greens and Labor demanding Scott release such information within 24 hours of each boat being intercepted.
He also had to reveal the passengers' nationalities and where they were picked up.
Yet the best military brains, past and present, say this information can only help people smugglers.
Which raises this suspicion: Labor and its media allies really want the Abbott Government to fail. Too cynical?
Two months ago the new Government started a military-led Operation Sovereign Borders to finally end the people smuggling Labor recklessly unleashed when it scrapped our tough border laws in 2008. Since Labor's criminally stupid decision - made to appear "compassionate" and cheered by the ABC and Fairfax newspapers - more than 50,000 boat people have arrived, more than 1000 have drowned and $11 billion of taxpayer money has been wasted.
After five years of faffing around, Labor in August - fearing decimation at the election - finally cracked down on the boats, by then arriving at a three a day.
And, yes, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's deal with Papua New Guinea to send new arrivals to Manus Island did have a big effect.
But Operation Sovereign Borders and other moves by the Abbott Government have cut boat numbers even more. In the past month, just three have arrived.
Clearly, whatever Sovereign Borders is doing works.
Senior journalists have for weeks raged over one aspect of the operation - a clampdown on information on what precisely is being done to turn back each boat. From their very first media briefing, Morrison and the Operations Sovereign Border head, Lt-Gen Angus Campbell, have explained that restriction.
Said Morrison in September: "Briefings will not be provided on tactical and operational matters that may compromise current or future operations."
Last week Prime Minister Tony Abbott added that the restrictions were necessary to make sure of co-operation from Indonesia.
"I don't want to engage in all kind of banter, which may or may not be good television, but which is not going to make it easier to have the kind of relationship with the Indonesian Government that we need."
Angus Houston, a former chief of the defence force and Labor favourite, last week backed this secrecy: "The military way of doing things is to operate with a high degree of operational security, to keep the people smugglers on the back foot."
And on Friday, Campbell explained in detail how people smugglers would love to have the information journalists and Labor demanded.
Knowing where our ships were helped the smugglers who wanted to avoid them, or those who offered customers early interception at sea.
Knowing our navy's tactics helped smugglers to beat them, and "has the very real potential to place responders, as well as passengers and crew, in danger".
What's more, "the official release of information about the nationality, gender, age and circumstances of passengers on-board vessels is also used by people smugglers to determine
with greater certainty which ventures have arrived".
That didn't just help smugglers "to claim credit for any intercepted vessel, to bolster their reputation and gain market share", Campbell said.
"The information about arrivals also leads to the release of final payments to people smugglers. Information protocols that disrupt cash flow, even briefly, cause difficulties for people smugglers."
New York Times journalist Luke Mogelson last week showed exactly how that worked.
Mogelson came over in September on a boat carrying Iranians, and said he'd paid the $8000 fee in Kabul to a money handler called Mohammad.
"Mohammad would withhold the money from his counterpart in Jakarta until we reached Christmas Island."
The people smuggler "would not get paid if our boat sank or if we drowned".
Labor now wants the Government to give out that evidence as soon as it can.
Do they demand police reveal all details of murder investigations - who's being bugged, which witnesses hold the key?
How stupid.
Abbott asked an ABC journalist badgering him last week: "You'd like to stop these boats, Leigh, surely."
Well, don't they?
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