Prime Minister Scott Morrison has recorded a secret video aimed directly at people smugglers to deter them from coming to Australia by sea, warning those willing to make the dangerous journey: “you will not succeed”.
The two-minute clip, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, will reportedly be broadcast on YouTube in 15 languages in the coming weeks in countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
In the video, Morrison warns asylum seekers Australia has zero tolerance for people smuggling and illegal boat travelling to Australia.
“No one who attempts an illegal boat journey to Australia will ever be allowed to settle here,” he said. “Make no mistake – if you attempt to come to Australia illegally by boat, you will not succeed.
“So do not waste your money or risk your life, or anyone else’s life, for nothing.”
The direct message comes after Morrison confirmed that he will reopen the detention centre on Christmas Island as a result of Tuesday’s historic defeat for the government in the Lower House, which he claims has “weakened” the country’s borders.
The prime minister announced the Coalition has approved the reopening of the detention centre, which was first used by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in a fiery press conference in Canberra on Wednesday morning in which he vowed to stop asylum seekers reaching Australia by boat.
Christmas Island’s detention centre was initially commissioned by John Howard but first used in 2008 by Rudd’s Labor government. However, controversy surrounded the island in 2010 when 50 asylum seekers, including 15 children, died off the coast of Flying Fish Cove, the island’s main settlement, after their wooden boat crashed into rocks.
Morrison also unleashed on Bill Shorten during the address, telling reporters the Opposition leader will be to blame if a new wave of asylum seekers begin to arrive by boat following the passage of the refugee transfer bill in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The Medevac Bill – also known as the Phelps Bill – passed by 75 votes to 74, delivering a historic defeat for the government on the first sitting day of parliament for the year, after Labor secured the support of the Greens and crossbench MPs to outnumber the Liberal National Coalition.
The bill, which will give doctors more power to bring offshore asylum seekers to Australia for medical treatment, was then passed in the Senate on Wednesday, shortly after Morrison’s deliverance, as Senator Derryn Hinch switched sides and placed his support with Labor, claiming the issue was a “humanitarian” one.