Operation Sovereign Borders

During the 2013 federal election, the Abbott-led Coalition campaigned on a policy that, if elected to government, they would 'stop the boats' and would launch Operation Sovereign Borders, combining the resources of multiple government bodies under direct control of a three star general. Following the election, Angus Campbell was promoted and appointed to oversee the operations. Following the 2013 election, the portfolio of the Minister for Immigration was renamed as the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. The appointed ministers, initially Scott Morrison and subsequently Peter Dutton, refused to release information on asylum seeker boat arrivals as they occurred, and a weekly media briefing was announced. In January 2014, having not held a media briefing for almost a month, Morrison announced that briefings would be held on what he described as 'an as needs basis'. On 10 July 2014, Morrison stated that the secrecy policy was put in place by Lieutenant General Campbell, which had been rigorously implemented by ministers, their advisers, and various government departments. On 23 August 2013, during the election campaign, the Coalition announced a key component of Operation Sovereign Borders called the Regional Deterrence Framework. Budgeted at A$420 million, the RDF aimed to engage with other countries in the region, particularly Indonesia, to prevent asylum seeker vessels leaving for Australia. The framework included a $20 million proposal (titled 'The Indonesian community engagement programme') which was to include: The 'buy-the-boats' plan was widely ridiculed, with fact-checking group PolitiFact Australia calling the proposal 'ridiculous'. Lieutenant General Campbell told a Senate Estimates committee that, two months into the OSB program, no boats had been purchased because Indonesia did not support the idea, although he stated that the measure remained available. The government runs a 'communication campaign to counter people smuggling' with advertisements in multiple languages, targeting 'press, radio, social and search media' across Australia. Between January and May 2015, $750,000 had been spent on the campaign. Operation Sovereign Borders operates as a Joint Agency Taskforce (JATF), with the support of a range of government agencies, organised as three operational task groups: Abbott's government claimed a ninety per cent reduction in maritime arrivals of asylum seekers. There were 207 in November 2013, as opposed to 2,629 in November 2012. In response, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Richard Marles claimed there was a 40 per cent reduction in arrivals in the month following the introduction of the Regional Resettlement Arrangement with Papua New Guinea, shortly before the 2013 election.