Mr Morrison said weekly briefings would be held in lieu of contemporaneous announcements, with the first scheduled to take place today. The minister defended the new arrangements, which have been criticised by Labor as needlessly secretive, saying people-smugglers exploited the information. "Taking control of how that information is released denies people-smugglers the opportunity to exploit such information," he said in a statement. "Information on arrivals will be provided and it will be provided in a way that supports the objectives of the operation to stop the boats."
In an apparent reference to the frequent drownings or disasters at sea that befell asylum boats and their passengers, Mr Morrison said additional briefings would be held "as necessary in relation to specific events". Other information, such as the number of bridging visas issued, would be updated monthly, Mr Morrison said.
I nearly fell off my chair when I read this, when it seems Burke thinks we have all forgotten about the GALP and media slut Rudd's own media strategies when they politicised the boat issue for the express purpose of using refugees as human headlines.Former immigration minister and leftard weasel Tony Burke accused Mr Morrison of refusing to take personal responsibility for the immigration portfolio and developing a media strategy to minimise scrutiny of his performance. "This is a media strategy, not a policy strategy," Mr Burke said.
Labor did not declare all the boats that arrived during the election campaign, many slipped through and were reported by alternative media the coalition and assorted human rights groups.
It wasn’t that Labor allowed more frequent reports because they were pro-transparency and serious about stopping the boats, they were playing devils advocate, and never had any intentions of stopping the boats.
They needed to allude to a crisis in order to justify campaign policy to solve it, though wanted the uproar from those who opposed their boat policy in order to justify their inaction (Labor not keeping their promise re- stopping the boats post election) in the unlikely event they managed to win the election.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationa ... KR1cU.dpuf
If taking control of how information is released to the public denies people-smugglers the opportunity to exploit such information to compromise the security of our boarders, then so be it.
Similarly, ASIO aren’t required to report sensitive information concerning key operations to our media on a daily basis either, information/intelligence that might serve to compromise operations if released too soon.
Personally, I’d like to see boarder security and ASIO merge into one specialised department, especially considering we have had persons of concern find their way into our minimum-security detention facilities.
Remember...
http://www.asio.gov.au/about-asio/faqs.htmlAmendments to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act in 2010 introduced a new area of focus for the organisation, namely the investigation of people smuggling activities and other serious threats to Australia's territorial and border integrity. ASIO is now able to use its capabilities to support the whole-of-government effort in combating these threats.
Time to expand on this.
And who amended the Act?
Labor!
Thing is, Labor never actually intended on acting on their Act...when they amended the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act in 2010 to allow ASIO more capabilities re- our border protections.
Could Tony Abbott be taking this Act seriously, and be exercising a more intelligence based approach to our border security by withholding information that serves to facilitate these people smugglers process?
A media black-out as the left suggest, or just plain common sense?
