Stop the boats. 5k a head. (cont. in Part 2)

[Gough]

Well it seems that the open and honest government bit of the Coalition's election platform seems to have been a bit of a lie, and we all hate government's lying don't we?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-...nouncements-of-asylum-seeker-arrivals/4972760

The previous government issued media alerts every time a boat arrived, but no new alerts have been issued since the new Government was sworn in.
The ABC asked both Customs and the Immigration Department whether any boats have arrived in recent days, but the questions were referred back to the Minister's office.
A spokesman for the Immigration Minister Scott Morrison would not say if any boats had arrived, and said further details about the Government's Operation Sovereign Borders policy would be provided soon.

Why the secrecy?

 

[Docker Clint]

Why the secrecy?

Whip up fear and angst about something that shouldn't be an issue then when you're in power, stop mentioning it.

Same reason the budget emergency seems to have disappeared.

 

[sherb]

That's fine, I am sure News Limited will continue to keep us duly and prominently informed of all boat arrivals.

 

[Docker Clint]

All pigs are fed, prepped and on the runway and ready for take-off.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Whip up fear and angst about something that shouldn't be an issue then when you're in power, stop mentioning it.

Same reason the budget emergency seems to have disappeared.

The budget emregency will be back. Every new government makes cuts blaming them on the false numbers of the previous government. Some even manage to do so in their third term and get away with it.
Its Hoodwinking 101 and all ministers go through the training in the morning before visiting the GG to be sworn in.

 

[CakeEater]

Its smarter to stop telling us the boats have arrived, then it is to tell us incessantly that they have.

Especially with the low tolerance that Australia has for asylum seekers/boat people/dirty scoundrels coming to take all of our jobs &have relations with our women.

Constantly putting out alerts that another boat has arrived is stupid media management of a divisive issue.

You think the media would publish that an asylum seeker boat arrived if they didn't receive an alert.

 

[Freo Big Fella]

I understand the strategy behind not actively announcing every arrival, but if Morrison's office has instructed AMSA and the other agencies to deliberately conceal the numbers that's pretty pathetic.

 

[Caesar]

Sending out media alerts every time a boat arrived was stupid; I am glad it has been stopped.

A departmental spokesman refusing to reveal information is more concerning. If it's just a temporary measure for a couple of weeks until they get their border protection policy sorted, that's fine by me. If it represents the new status quo then that's an issue.

At any rate, the numbers will not be able to be concealed indefinitely. Reports have to be tabled in parliament on a reasonably regular basis.

 

[yibbida]

Hide the Boats is the first step to fascism.

 

[Docker Clint]

Hide the Boats is the first step to fascism.

How slippery is the slope before it becomes "hide the people who disagree with us"?

 

[Caesar]

Fascism? Seriously?

The next six years are going to be pretty entertaining on this board.

 

[sherb]

Apparently there was a hidden word in the slogan.

Stop reporting the boats.

But no-one could ever work out why the gap was there. They thought it was just a typo.

 

[sherb]

Hide the Boats is the first step to fascism.

The Coalition made this out to be an issue of monumental proportions for years.

The public is still entitled to know when boats are arriving, given apparently how big at threat they are to us.

 

[CM86]

Imagine if Gillard had stopped making boat arrivals public!

Jesus. H. Christ, the uproar if the ALP blocked the media from access to information on boat arrivals! For even a day!

 

[pjcrows]

Government in disarray. Election now.

 

[Docker Clint]

Fascism? Seriously?

The next six years* are going to be pretty entertaining on this board.

*Three years.

 

[DeanoT]

*Three years.

*Twelve years.

 

[Juddism]

I understand the strategy behind not actively announcing every arrival, but if Morrison's office has instructed AMSA and the other agencies to deliberately conceal the numbers that's pretty pathetic.

all well and good not to tell us about arrivals but what about drownings? are we going to hear about them when they occur?

only thing that springs to mind here is the amount of leaks from the department if this is the policy the government runs with.

 

[MUYB]

The coalition actually announced they were going to do this before the election if anyone paid attention to it.

While I think they have done it solely for the purpose of political gain, I hold out some small amount of hope that this may succeed in taking some of the heat and hysteria out of the asylum seeker issue. Maybe with a couple of years of this not being a constantly hyped issue in the press people will be able to hit a bit of a reset switch and approach things with a fresh mind.

 

[NSWCROW]

Imagine if Gillard had stopped making boat arrivals public!

Jesus. H. Christ, the uproar if the ALP blocked the media from access to information on boat arrivals! For even a day!

COMMUNISTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NSWCROW]

7 boats since election day apparently.......

 

[Schism]

7 boats since election day apparently.......

That's impossible, Captain Suppository was going to stop the boats.

 

[DeanoT]

7 boats since election day apparently.......

The ALP were still technically still in government until this Tuesday.

 

[Subprime]

I wouldn't have thought the ALP policy was the gold standard.

Might take more than a few days to solve a snafu 6 years in the making.

 

[Bosun]

Hide the Boats is the first step to fascism.

Fascism? Care to explain?