The arrival last week of a boat carrying 24 potential asylum seekers, and possibly another one carrying 13, sent Peter Dutton into his standard boat arrivals scare mode. The usual suspects at the Murdoch press went into a frenzy of panic with Chris Kenny calling it a ‘national dilemma’.
Dutton has again warned of an ‘armada’ of boats coming at us. Those who are longstanding observers of this debate will know that Dutton has a habit of warning of an armada of boats at every opportunity he gets.
So could he be right this time?
Despite Dutton’s protestations, both major parties now have identical policies on boat arrivals. Both parties are committed to maintaining turnback policy under Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB), offshore processing on Nauru and the non-settlement of these asylum seekers in Australia.
Dutton’s constant reference to the Albanese Government providing existing Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) holders with a pathway to permanent residence is a total red herring. The policy of both major parties is that any person who has arrived on an unauthorised boat since offshore processing was re-introduced by Kevin Rudd in 2013 will not be settled in Australia. Hence no boat arrival since that time has had access to a TPV.
While people smugglers may try to mislead their clients on that, the facts around this are very clear on the........