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| Operation Sovereign Borders: line up the gunboats, it's time to PowerPoint | Operation Sovereign Borders: line up the gunboats, it's time to PowerPoint |
| (2 months later) | |
| Presumably it would have been too dull for Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison to stand up in Brisbane and unleash nothing more dramatic than a PowerPoint presentation on the bureaucratic fine points of their implementation plans for border protection post-election. That would have been positively Rudd-esque. | Presumably it would have been too dull for Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison to stand up in Brisbane and unleash nothing more dramatic than a PowerPoint presentation on the bureaucratic fine points of their implementation plans for border protection post-election. That would have been positively Rudd-esque. |
| But if you cut through the spin, the framing, the over-the-top political rhetoric about “national emergencies” and quasi-military operations spearheaded by three-star commanders, that’s exactly what we got in Brisbane on Thursday morning. We got some fine points of process, minus a detailed costing. | But if you cut through the spin, the framing, the over-the-top political rhetoric about “national emergencies” and quasi-military operations spearheaded by three-star commanders, that’s exactly what we got in Brisbane on Thursday morning. We got some fine points of process, minus a detailed costing. |
| The Coalition thinks current border protection efforts are hampered by poor co-ordination between agencies. That sense is more than likely valid. Defence is involved, customs is involved, the intelligence agencies are involved, there are rolling inter-agency taskforces and several portfolio ministers. | The Coalition thinks current border protection efforts are hampered by poor co-ordination between agencies. That sense is more than likely valid. Defence is involved, customs is involved, the intelligence agencies are involved, there are rolling inter-agency taskforces and several portfolio ministers. |
| Voters would be acutely aware that Australia’s border protection effort periodically looks less like a seamless, whole-of-government effort and more like a shambles. The Coalition is proposing a more centralised command structure, more power for the immigration minister (who gets a general reporting to him – a bit odd, and certainly outside the conventional chain of command), and a new building. | Voters would be acutely aware that Australia’s border protection effort periodically looks less like a seamless, whole-of-government effort and more like a shambles. The Coalition is proposing a more centralised command structure, more power for the immigration minister (who gets a general reporting to him – a bit odd, and certainly outside the conventional chain of command), and a new building. |
| But Australia’s major-party politics is well past the point of standing calmly, analysing these points in detail and considering their relative merits. | But Australia’s major-party politics is well past the point of standing calmly, analysing these points in detail and considering their relative merits. |
| Asylum politics has jumped the shark. Substance is almost totally obscured by a daily Kabuki play which could not be more cynical and manipulative and made for focus groups if it tried. Why consider points of substance when you can chest-bump and play the voters for mugs? | Asylum politics has jumped the shark. Substance is almost totally obscured by a daily Kabuki play which could not be more cynical and manipulative and made for focus groups if it tried. Why consider points of substance when you can chest-bump and play the voters for mugs? |
| The Coalition wanted to create one impression: that the military was to be turned on the invaders in leaky boats lurking over the border. It was a bit like the other week when Kevin Rudd suddenly invoked the concept of Konfrontasi with Indonesia; this is a direct appeal to deep-seated and longstanding fears in the Australian community about threats to our north. | The Coalition wanted to create one impression: that the military was to be turned on the invaders in leaky boats lurking over the border. It was a bit like the other week when Kevin Rudd suddenly invoked the concept of Konfrontasi with Indonesia; this is a direct appeal to deep-seated and longstanding fears in the Australian community about threats to our north. |
| This isn’t about substance (even when it is) – it’s about political resonance. The Coalition’s political message is this: Labor is abrogating Australia’s sovereignty, there is a crisis on our borders, and it’s time to put the grown-ups back in the Lodge to deal with a “national emergency”. | This isn’t about substance (even when it is) – it’s about political resonance. The Coalition’s political message is this: Labor is abrogating Australia’s sovereignty, there is a crisis on our borders, and it’s time to put the grown-ups back in the Lodge to deal with a “national emergency”. |
| That’s why a simple PowerPoint presentation becomes Operation Sovereign Borders. | That’s why a simple PowerPoint presentation becomes Operation Sovereign Borders. |
| It creates an explicit exercise in compare and contrast: Kevin Rudd has his soft-handed diplomacy, his summits and his dodgy cash splashes in PNG. | It creates an explicit exercise in compare and contrast: Kevin Rudd has his soft-handed diplomacy, his summits and his dodgy cash splashes in PNG. |
| Tony Abbott has his granite jaw and gunboat. | Tony Abbott has his granite jaw and gunboat. |
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