From Abbott to Turnbull - a New Direction?: Australian Commonwealth Administration 2013-2016 by Chris Aulich

Author:Chris Aulich [Aulich, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Politics
ISBN: 9780994577887
Google: IazhjwEACAAJ
Goodreads: 31380667
Publisher: Echo Books
Published: 2016-01-15T09:21:41+00:00

Chapter 9

Operation Sovereign Borders

Brendan McCaffrie

The Abbott government was elected in 2013 with a handful of firm commitments, none more often repeated than the commitment to ‘stop the boats’, or to prevent asylum-seekers from arriving in Australia by sea. For much of the preceding Labor government’s six years in office (2007–13), Labor’s less punitive approach saw high numbers of asylum-seekers arrive by boat, and numerous deaths at sea. Under severe pressure for much of that period of government, the ALP’s policy increasingly became harsher, particularly through the return to offshore processing of asylum-seeker applications, by reopening detention centres on Nauru and on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, and through a policy of not resettling refugees who arrive by boat in Australia.

Under Abbott, the Coalition government created Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB); a stricter, highly secretive, military-led policy designed to deter asylum-seekers from travelling to Australia by boat. Under this new regime, boats carrying asylum-seekers were intercepted by Navy vessels and turned back to their port of origin, Temporary Protection Visas were reintroduced, a new front-line operational agency, Australian Border Force was created, and information about Australian government operations and even about the very existence of asylum-seeker boats was controlled, with ministers refusing to comment on ‘operational matters’.

For observers of Australian politics, the secrecy of this policy was its most novel and defining feature, and this chapter analyses the successes and failures of OSB, with a particular focus on the government’s secrecy. It discusses whether this secrecy was justified, and whether it actually helped the government in political terms. Officially, the strict control of information was designed to prevent operational information from reaching people smugglers. However, politicians from Opposition parties, political interest groups supporting refugees, and even journalists were clearly disadvantaged, and often outraged by the lack of information from government.

The government’s secrecy promoted a focus on OSB’s ends, particularly the reduced number of boat arrivals, rather than the means, which were often unpalatable. However, a series of controversies occurred, usually fuelled by information sourced from the Indonesian government, or asylum-seekers themselves. At such times, the government’s desire not to provide information tended to hamper its ability to react to allegations.

This chapter first examines the academic literature on silence and secrecy as a rhetorical strategy, before detailing changes to asylum-seeker policy under OSB, and scrutinising a series of controversies that surfaced in the media, relating to the secrecy itself, to the nature of on-water operations, and to the treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers in offshore detention centres. Central to this section is the question of whether the strategy of silence actually helped or hindered the government. The conclusion analyses OSB’s successes and failures in programmatic, process and political terms (see Marsh and McConnell 2010).

The rhetoric of silence

Literature on silence or secrecy as a rhetorical strategy is scarce, although a small, predominantly case study-based, body of research exists (such as Brummett 1980; Cloud 1999; Harlow 2011; Houck 2000; Olson 2013). This literature, and particularly Brummett’s seminal piece, outlines strategic motivations for rhetorical silence, with the predominant motivation being to control information and exercise power.

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