'This briefing is not about providing shipping news to people smugglers.' — Scott Morrison, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, first Operation Sovereign Borders briefing on 23 September 2013
'It will be a tougher approach ... our responsibility [to stop the boats] is absolute.' — Morrison
'That [question] goes to operational matters ... you will not be getting commentary from this podium [Morrison] or that podium [Lt-Gen Angus Campbell, commander of OSB] either way on these matters.' — Morrison
No questions were put to either the minister or the operational commander about safety-of-life-at-sea (SOLAS) or search-and-rescue (SAR) obligations and protocols governing Operation Sovereign Borders. This is deeply regrettable, because around 1100 asylum seekers drowned in the past four years in this same Australian Border Protection Command theatre of operations. And during the election campaign, both major parties made much of their humanitarian concern to stop the drownings, by stopping the boats.
Neither Morrison nor Campbell offered any words on this on Monday. No media present asked any questions that might have triggered useful responses on it. Nor did Labor's official commentators (Chris Bowen or Tony Burke) say anything on the drownings issue in their reported responses to this first briefing.
Deaths at sea have apparently dropped off the major party radar screens completely — at least until the next maritime tragedy, which both parties will no doubt exploit to score points off the other.
To their credit, both Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and Labor leadership candidate Bill Shorten addressed it. Hanson-Young, condemning OSB secrecy, commented that 'people's lives are involved in these kinds of operations'. Shorten said that it would be 'a disgrace' if the new system did not disclose details of drownings. 'I can't imagine who dreamed that up, not telling anyone about deaths at sea ... If a boat sinks ... I don't think the government has a right to not tell people that this tragedy has occurred.'
Let's look at practicalities. How will OSB handle issues of its public accountability for safety of life at sea?
We don't know yet where at sea OSB proposes to intercept boats. We do know that asylum seekers often carry mobile phones which they sometimes use to send distress calls en route to 999, Australian Federal Police, Australian Maritime Safety Authority, or