Australian Border Force blames farcical events in Melbourne on 'low level' official – live

My colleague Melissa Davey has just filed a further update taking in the bizarre events of today with the ABF. Here’s an excerpt from her piece:

The federal government’s Australian Border Force was forced to abandon a controversial visa crackdown in Melbourne on Friday, following sustained criticism of the operation from politicians, unions, the city council, human rights lawyers, and the people of Victoria.

Melbourne city centre was brought to a standstill on Friday afternoon after protesters flooded Flinders Street train station, which they had deliberately planned to coincide with the 2pm joint border force and Victoria police press conference officially launching the operation.

Holding up placards and chanting “border force off our streets” and “fuck off border force,” more than 200 protesters walked from the steps of the station where they had gathered and spilled out to the intersection in front, banking up trams and causing chaos amongst the traffic.

The press conference was cancelled at 2.30pm; half an hour after that, the entire controversial operation, dubbed “Operation Fortitude”, was shelved by Victoria police in response to what they described as a high level of community concern.

One of the questions that has arisen from this operation is the fact the ABF announced that it was conducting the compliance operation in such a dramatic way.

This lends to the obvious question about the efficacy of such an approach; surely if a person was actually at risk of breaching their visa terms, they would simply stay out of the Melbourne CBD?

To illustrate how unusual this is, I looked back at a year’s worth of press releases in 2012 from the immigration department. These are all archived on the Wayback Machine, because unfortunately the federal government binned these releases when the ABF was created.

Not a single release about a specific compliance operation was conducted prospectively – every single one was done after the fact, although occasionally general ones would be issued ahead of big events. The approach taken by the ABF in this instance does appear to be an abrogation from a longstanding practice within the immigration department.

The Human Rights Law Centre has also released a strong statement about the circumstances surrounding the ABF operation today:

The Human Rights Law Centre today expressed grave concerns over statements by the newly formed Australian Border Force that they would be stopping individuals in Melbourne’s CBD.

“The comments are deeply concerning. There’s simply no legal justification for border force officers to randomly stop people going about their business in Melbourne,” said Hugh de Kretser, the HRLC’s executive director.

The ABF said in a statement this morning they would be “positioned at various locations around the CBD speaking to any individual we cross paths with”. But after numerous concerns were raised, by 2pm, the ABF had issued a “clarifying” statement to say the ABF “does not and will not stop people at random in the streets”.

“The backdown is welcome but the whole incident reinforces concerns around the militarisation of our immigration officials. The comments this morning reflect a disturbing attitude around how the border force will conduct itself” said Mr de Kretser.

Victoria police later called off the entire operation.

“While common sense has prevailed today, the events raise many questions. The legal basis for the entire operation and the sharing of information between police and the border force is murky,” said Mr de Kretser.

The punters weigh in. Punctuation is quite important. But there are probably others who think it’s quite important that they not need carry their passports around the city with them.

Continuing on with the political reaction, federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese has just posted a short response on Twitter to the planned operation:

To put what Roman Quaedvlieg has just said in a little clearer context: this statement was signed off at a low level of the organisation. But he said the regional commander who is quoted in the release did approve his comments.

Quaedvlieg was at pains to stress the release was sanctioned at a low level, did not represent ABF policy and that “remedial action” of some sort would be taken.

This has now been taken one step further, and the immigration minister’s office have even reportedly distanced itself from the operation.

What I can tell you (and what every reporter who covers immigration will tell you) is that releases by the ABF and those that are sent to journalists are subject to a remarkable level of scrutiny by the organisation and by the immigration minister’s office.

Since the Coalition came to power, there has been an even greater centralisation of media messaging.

It certainly seems curious then that in this particular case, all of this was achieved at such a “low level”.

Guardian Australia’s political editor Lenore Taylor has filed this scathing analysis of the farce that has been the Australian Border Force today:

Operation Fortitude seems to have been named using the wrong f-word. Many would work, but let’s go with Operation Farce.

Not since Tony Abbott gave Prince Philip a knighthood has the nation appeared so immediately united in calling out a truly stupid and offensive notion.

It began with a morning press release, announcing proudly that our new “border force” – a revamped and armed version of the frontline activities of immigration and the customs service that began operations in July – would be part of a big “crime crackdown” in Melbourne on the weekend.

“ABF officers will be positioned at various locations around the CBD speaking with any individual we cross paths with,” said the border’s force regional commander in Victoria and Tasmania, Don Smith.

“You need to be aware of the conditions of your visa; if you commit visa fraud you should know it’s only a matter of time before you’re caught out.”

Immediately apparent to pretty much everyone except Smith, or whoever writes his press releases, was that this would require border force to “profile” who they questioned, or else uselessly question an awful lot of people out having fun on a Saturday night, that it would mean they were asking for documentation without any real reason to think the person had committed an offence and that – given all the pre-warning – anyone who really had a problem with their visa would probably be elsewhere.

It was also pretty obvious this was border force establishing its paramilitary credentials as a law enforcer (it can now carry arms, detain people and gather intelligence) with a remit far beyond our borders.

Turns out there is a good reason to follow proper process when it comes to paramilitary and law enforcement type things – the kind of processes the actual military and police force often have.

Read the rest here.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has just been speaking on the ABC, where he called on the prime minister, Tony Abbott, to condemn the operation immediately.

An interesting development: the ABF website appears to be mostly accessible, apart from their media releases page.

When you attempt to review their earlier statements on Operation Fortitude this is the message that now comes up:

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has gone all out in his statement on the Australian Border Force operation, comparing it to the East German security service the Stasi, former Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin and Chilean president general Augusto Pinochet. In one paragraph.

Here’s his statement in full:

Joseph Stalin would be proud of Tony Abbott. Just as East Germany’s Stasi would be delighted with the Australian Border Force. Why even General Pinochet would be impressed.

The decision by the federal government to cancel this weekend’s security operation in Melbourne is a welcome respite, for now at least, but the government has shown its hand by planning the operation in the first place.

The community was outraged at the prospect of the random visa checks and should remain incensed with the government for thinking such an activity would be acceptable in the first place.

Australia is now a police state where citizens could be stopped in the street to have their papers checked. Are we to presume the enemies of the state will start to be disappeared?

Since the terrorist attacks in the US in 2001 Australians have been subject to countless new security law excesses, including the mandatory retention of metadata by the current government. To now have the prospect of the Australian Border Force “randomly” stopping people in Australia is surely the final straw.

The Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm has also weighed in on the use of the Australian Border Force in the operation at Melbourne CBD.

My colleague Daniel Hurst has just sent through this statement from Leyonhjelm:

Either the border force are doing racial profiling, in which case they should stop it, or they are hassling everyone, and they should stop that as well. We do not need any more uniformed goons.

This indicates that the border force should be radically downsized and its workers allowed to do something useful for a living.

My colleague Melissa Davey was speaking with protesters at Flinders Street station earlier at the rally. Here’s what she learned:

Ezekiel Ox, a leader of the protest, said the turnout, despite the protest being haphazardly organised shortly before the border force press conference was due to be held, was testament to the views of the people of Victoria.

“Operation Fortitude has been abandoned, it’s been abandoned by the Abbott government, it’s been abandoned by the Victoria police, so we won’t have gestapo fascists on the streets of Melbourne this weekend harassing immigrants, harassing people of colour, harassing people speaking a second language,” he told Guardian Australia.

“We’re not just claiming victory. We’re saying this is a firm victory.”

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is now speaking in Adelaide about the Australian Border Force Operation.

There’s questions now by lawyers as to whether this has been a breach of human rights. It’s definitely overreach by the minister, but overall it’s border farce.

She said the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, needs to come clean to explain whose idea it was to set out to plan the operation.

It never got past the first page of the press release. The border force statement was that they were going to move into full swing today, and of course only hours later had to retract suggestions they had those powers.

What has been proven today is that the Australian people don’t want to see the politicisation of our immigration department.

Adam Bandt, the federal Greens member in Melbourne, has also welcomed the cancellation of the operation. He said the community had run the government’s “ugly politics” out of town:

Operation Border Farce came to our city and was just as quickly shown the door.

This morning we heard that the border force planned to station their officers around the CBD and ask questions of any individual they cross paths with, demanding to see people’s papers.

This was extremely concerning and threatened Melbourne’s reputation as a welcoming city.

But within hours, Melbournians came together and stood up to Tony Abbott and his politics of division.

The community has sent the message that Melbourne is not a place where a government officer can stop you in the street and demand to see your papers because you’re suspected of being a foreigner.

Greens immigration spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said: “Operation Border Farce is clearly in full swing under the Abbott government. This shows that the Australian people aren’t willing to put up with Tony Abbott’s divisive political stunts anymore. The government’s eagerness to militarise the immigration department in its ongoing war against foreigners is reckless.”

Hanson-Young is still scheduled to give a press conference about the operation shortly.

The shadow federal immigration minister, Richard Marles, has also released a statement calling on the immigration minister Peter Dutton to explain the disastrous handling of the operation by the Australian Border Force.

Here’s Marles’s statement in full:

Immigration minister Peter Dutton needs to come out of hiding and provide an explanation for the shambles that has seen a cross-agency operation compromised and a key government agency left red-faced.

Opposition immigration and border protection spokesperson Richard Marles said the Abbott government’s overzealous handling in announcing an upcoming joint agency operation was at best clumsy and at worst shambolic.

“This has been incredibly badly handled and Peter Dutton needs to immediately come clean on how this announcement was so botched,” said Mr Marles.

“There is no question that there is an appropriate role for the government’s newly established Australian Border Force to be playing in cracking down on visa fraud.

“We support those efforts – but what we have witnessed in the last six hours has been a complete debacle on Peter Dutton’s watch.

“Mr Dutton needs to immediately explain to the community what on earth has transpired.

“Who sanctioned this announcement being made, what was its purpose, who called for its retraction and who is responsible for compromising this operation?”

Just to put things in perspective, this was a remarkably quick mobilisation of people in a short period of time.

My colleague Melissa Davey has spoken to a number of the protesters. Some are concerned about the risks of racial proifiling arising from the operation, while others expressed concerns about the militarisation of the agency.

My colleague Melissa Davey has all the latest with our news splash on Operation Fortitude. You can read it in full here:

A controversial operation in Melbourne by the Australian Border Force against people overstaying their visas has been abruptly cancelled following protests.

“Operation Fortitude”, due to take place on Friday night and Saturday, was called off on Friday afternoon amid chaotic scenes.

About 200 people protesting against the Australian border force (ABF) operation blocked the intersection of Flinders Street and Swanston Street in the city, disrupting traffic.

Officers from the ABF and Victoria police had planned a press conference at 2pm Friday outside Flinders Street train station to talk about “Operation Fortitude”, a mass operation taking place on Friday and Saturday targeting those overstaying their visas, with outstanding arrest warrants and being disruptive.

Announcing that the operation has been cancelled, Victoria police said: “We understand there has been a high level of community interest and concern which has been taken into consideration when making this decision.

“Victoria police’s priority is the safety and wellbeing of the whole community and we will continue to work with our partner agencies to achieve this.”

But the operation faced a backlash from Victorians since being announced on Friday morning as fears of racial profiling and unnecessary force began to rise. Many were concerned the operation is heavy handed and unnecessary.

Just in case anyone was interested: This morning the Australian border force was also advertising more jobs.

Unfortunately you also need to be an Australian citizen. Here’s how they responded to one person who asked:

The protesters at Flinders Street station are speaking now with my colleague Melissa Davey on Periscope. You can follow on here.

One protester told Davey: “People who speak a second language are now not going to be harassed on trains tomorrow. It’s a fucking win, make some noise!”

As a point of historical reference, readers may be interested to learn that Operation Fortitude was also the codename for a key operation in the Normandy landings in 1944 that led to the end of the second world war.

The namesake led by the Australian Border Force and the Victorian police does not have quite the historical import, but no doubt will be remembered for other reasons.

To put things in perspective, this is an excellent Tweet from Will Ockenden that shows just how quickly events moved today:

The announcement of Operation Fortitude sparked some pretty reasonable questions about what the powers of Australian Border Force officers and police really are and what kind of information they can demand.

Here’s an explainer I prepared earlier of the six key points you need to know:

1. Do I need to hand over identification if a police officer asks me for it?Police powers vary from state to state, but in Victoria under the Crimes Act 1958 the police generally cannot require an individual to provide identification unless they believe, on reasonable grounds, that they have committed or are suspected of committing an offence, or if they can assist in the investigation of an offence.

If police request your identification, they must provide reasons for their belief to allow you to understand the type of offence and the grounds for their belief.

In New South Wales the police have similar powers. Police can request identification of an unknown person if they suspect on reasonable grounds a person can assist in the investigation of an offence because they were at or near the location where an offence was alleged to have occurred.

2. What kind of information are police entitled to ask for?
In Victoria police can only ask for your name and address when conducting an identification check. In NSW the phrase identity means “the name or residential address of the person (or both)”.

3. Can police ask for my visa status?
There is no specific power that would compel a person to provide information about their visa status to police.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has just announced she will hold a press conference to discuss the cancellation of the Australian Border Force press conference.

She is scheduled to speak at 3:30pm AEST.

More people are now rallying and have entered Flinders Street station to continue to protest.

There are now more than 250 protesters in Melbourne who have gathered to protest the Australian Border Force and the operation that was scheduled to go ahead this weekend.

The protesters are chanting their opposition to the ABF, and are now cheering at the decision to cancel the event.

My colleague Melissa Davey is at Flinders Street Station and is now Periscoping the protest.

Good afternoon, and welcome to our coverage of the protests that are capping off what has been a very unfortunate day for the Australian Border Borce (ABF).

Earlier on Friday, Australia’s newest super agency, which is a composite of immigration and customs, set out their plans for a major operation in Melbourne’s CBD.

The release took on the heavy-handed tone that has become increasingly common in immigration and border protection matters, with the ABF regional commander, Don Smith, saying that officers “will be positioned at various locations around the CBD speaking with any individual we cross paths with”.

It added that: “You need to be aware of the conditions of your visa; if you commit visa fraud you should know it’s only a matter of time before you’re caught out.”

Although it did not say so expressly, the announcement drew immediate concerns that it would lead to widespread spot-checks of visas in the city.

A protest is now occurring at Flinders Street station where a press conference was due to be held.