Workers have been accused of being “deliberately misleading” after Sky News Australia revealed that 15 asylum seekers were actually transferred to Sri Lanka after a boat was intercepted off the coast of Christmas Island.
A senior Coalition source has said Labor have been “deliberately misleading” on an asylum seeker ship that was intercepted off the coast of Christmas Island.
The Australian border force on Saturday captured the ship carrying 15 people from Sri Lanka.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles confirmed the deal on Tuesday in an interview with Chief Presenter Kieran Gilbert.
But Sky News Australia revealed a day later that asylum seekers had been prosecuted under Operation Sovereign Borders and then returned to Sri Lanka in a chartered plane.
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Marles did not provide further information about the operation, as he described it as a recovery.
“There has been a recovery procedure that has been enacted in relation to the people on board this ship,” Marles said Tuesday.
“They have been returned to Sri Lanka and this has happened in a very common and routine way.”
A senior Coalition source disagreed with the statement telling Sky News Australia that the government “was deliberately misleading to appear to be the same as the Coalition”.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers asked directly about the allegations Wednesday, but dodged the question and said the Coalition was trying to “politicize” border security.
“First of all, when it comes to the policy of asylum seekers, these guys can’t be avoided,” Mr. Chalmers Wednesday.
“They are always looking to politicize what are serious issues of national security and border security. I think Australians have had enough.”
The treasurer then maintained that the Albanian government was “committed” to Operation Sovereign Borders and reaffirmed that there would be no difference in the approach of Morrison’s former government.
“Australians know, and smugglers know, that we remain committed to Operation Sovereign Borders,” he continued.
“It simply came to our notice then.
“And the message we sent to human traffickers is that people should not start this dangerous journey because they will be prosecuted in the same way after Saturday as before Saturday.”
Sky News political journalist Trudy McIntosh detailed the process of recovering a ship on Wednesday afternoon.
He said the 15 passengers were aboard a Border Force ship and prosecuted by officials before being “returned to Sri Lanka”.
“It’s not clear exactly where they were taken to be evicted. Whether it was Christmas Island, you should have imagined the location of the closet and that’s where they were taken.
“Richard Marles … made it clear that this was a recovery. Now there had been a lot of media reporting in a broader term that it was a return of the ship.
“Now technically this is not true, but some would argue that it is a hair break that Labor makes very clear that there is no difference with the Coalition when it comes to border protection.”
The Australian border force announced on election day that the ship in question had been intercepted by authorities.
“I can confirm that there was an interception of a ship en route to Australia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday.
“This ship has been intercepted in accordance with government policies and is following these normal protocols.
“In the interest of full transparency in the midst of an election campaign, the Labor Party was informed of this and the border protection authorities have issued a statement.”
Shortly afterwards, the Liberal Party’s text message campaign was launched, highlighting the Coalition’s strong position on the application of borders.
“Snarling – Aust Border Force has intercepted an illegal ship trying to reach Birds. Keep our borders safe by voting liberal today,” the text message read.