Things just keep going from bad to worse for Australian PM Anthony Albanese. It’s been a horror year for the PM, since the humiliating defeat of his Voice referendum, and it has been capped off in the last couple of weeks by separate scandals around a clifftop mansion purchase and revelations of luxury perks from airline Qantas.
It’s not getting any better. Now, the boats are back in the headlines.
Four foreign nationals have been found on the Northern Territory’s Croker Island.
The illegal arrivals say they paid money to be taken to Australia, the ABC has reported.
According to reports, the Northern Land Council confirmed the four men were found on Monday suffering from heat exhaustion.
This is at least the third time in the past year that illegal immigrant boats have slipped the net of border security. If the boats keep coming, it’s Labor’s worst nightmare. Border security is one of Labor’s biggest Achilles’ heels, after economic management. The cost-of-living crisis has destroyed any credibility they might try to claim on the latter; a return of the boats will be the final torpedo below Labor’s waterline.
And the opposition are right on it.
Peter Dutton says the latest arrival of foreign nationals in a Northern Territory island shows people smugglers “believe that they’re back in business” and it shows the Albanese government is seen as “weak” […]
The Opposition said Anthony Albanese should have been “honest” earlier on Tuesday during media conferences.
“This is now the 23rd boat arrival, and it’s another one that’s been undetected,” he told Sky News. “Our borders are not secure under the Albanese government. How can a boat make it to the mainland without any detection whatsoever?
“I think it’s clear that the Prime Minister should have been honest with the Australian people today when he addressed the media, he should have provided advice.
“Instead, he got up and mentioned nothing about it which I think goes to show that the Prime Minister is not being honest in relation to this debate and it demonstrates the fact that the government is seen as weak not just by Australians but by people smugglers as well.”
Even more embarrassing for the government is that, yet again, aerial surveillance was useless. It was up to local Aborigines to find the border breach.
Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the discovery of four foreign nationals on an island in the Northern Territory “has to raise serious questions” about what surveillance Australian Border Force is conducting [...]
“The fact traditional owners are discovering illegal arrivals and not our border force poses a huge risk to border security of this nation. It’s not only of deep concern that people smugglers have found a new way to operate but there’s also raises serious issues around quarantine, disease and all sorts of other potential consequences for people arriving illegally on our shores.”
Illegal immigration was a huge factor in the US election results. Outside of the trendy cafes of the inner cities and the university campuses, ordinary people are horrified to think that their borders are wide open.
