Don't Tread on Me!

How do we Interpret Operation Fortitude?

On Friday 28^th August at 9:52 am Victoria Police issued a statement about an upcoming operation to crack down on anti-social behavior that weekend. These operations are nothing new and quite routine. The operation was to involve Victoria Police, Yarra Trams, The Sheriffs Office, Taxi Service Commission, Metro Trains and the Australian Border Force (ABF).

ABF is a relatively new organisation (it was formed by a merger in July 2015 of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. It was modeled on two organisations. Border Force UK and the American Department of Homeland Security.

At 10:14am The ABF released its own statement. It read:

ABF joining inter-agency outfit to target crime in Melbourne CBD

28-08-2015 - 

This weekend Australian Border Force (ABF) officers will for the first time join forces with a diverse team of transport and enforcement agencies to target crime in the Melbourne Central Business District (CBD) as part of Operation Fortitude.

Tonight and tomorrow evening (Friday 28 and Saturday 29 August 2015) Metro Trains, Yarra Trams, the Sheriff’s Office, Taxi Services Commission and the ABF will join Victoria Police as part of the inter-agency operation.

With a particular focus on people travelling to, from and around the CBD, the group of agencies will work together to support the best interests of Melbournians, targeting everything from anti-social behaviour to outstanding warrants.

ABF Regional Commander Victoria and Tasmania, Don Smith, is proud the ABF will be participating in the operation.

“While the ABF regularly conducts a range of compliance field-work, this is the first time we’ve been involved in an inter-agency operation of this nature and we’re very proud be able to support each of our organisations to achieve our common mission of promoting a secure and cohesive society here in Melbourne.”

“ABF officers will be positioned at various locations around the CBD speaking with any individual we cross paths with,” Mr Smith said.

“You need to be aware of the conditions of your visa; if you commit visa fraud you should know it’s only a matter of time before you’re caught out.” (Emphasis Mine)

The inter-agency outfit will continue to work together on an ongoing basis to target crime in and around the Melbourne CBD to make the city a safer place for everyone.

Media opportunity

Operation Fortitude will be launched by representatives from each participating agency at 2pm today (Friday 28 August 2015) on the steps of Flinders Street Railway Station.

ENDS

I have bolded the text which caused the issue. The Australian Border Force told Melbourne that they would be speaking to "individuals we cross paths with". Here it certainly sounded like Border Force were jackbooting around Melbourne, approaching anyone they meet and demanding "Papers Please".

Social media went into meltdown. The hashtag #borderforce trended worldwide. The ABF statement was both incredibly offensive and pointed to illegal behavior on the part of Border Force. A protest was organised at the spot the press conference was to be held. This was Flinders Street Station steps. The beating heart of the city. Traffic was stopped and rail commuters were confronted with placard waving leftist protesters screaming chants like "refugees are welcome, Border Force is not".

Border Force looked to clarify their position quickly and sent out 4 tweets to calm the storm they had created.

The ABF will assist Victoria Police in an operation to target crime in the #Melbourne CBD this weekend 1/4

ABF officers will assist partner agencies by conducting background visa checks on individuals who are referred to us 2/4

The ABF does not and will not stop people at random in the streets & does not target on the basis of race, religion, or ethnicity 3/4

@DIBPAus has regularly conducted compliance activity of this nature in the past. This responsibility will now be continued by ABF 4/4

ABF then tweeted a link to a longer statement.

28-08-2015 -

The Australian Border Force (ABF) will not be ‘stopping people at random’ in Melbourne to ‘check people’s papers’ as reported in media this morning regarding Operation Fortitude.

As stated in this morning’s press release, the ABF will be assisting in a joint operation led by Victoria Police in Melbourne this weekend.

To be clear:

• This is a joint agency operation led by Victoria Police. 
• The ABF will assist other agencies in this operation by conducting background visa checks on individuals who are referred to us by Victoria Police and other agencies.
• The ABF is but one of eight agencies assisting in this operation.
• The ABF does not and will not stop people at random in the streets and does not target on the basis of race, religion, or ethnicity.
• Joint operations of this type are common and were previously conducted by Departmental immigration officers.

ABF activity will occur at only two of the numerous locations where Operation Fortitude will be carried out in the Melbourne CBD this weekend.
Media Operations:
(02) 6264 2244

Very quickly Victoria Police (who were in charge of the operation) cancelled the press conference and then cancelled the whole operation. The tone of the comment on social media changed quickly as well. The hashtag #borderforce was replaced by #borderfarce. People were no longer angry, but poked huge amount of fun at the bungled operation.

Border Force went from looking like Heinrich Himmler to Sgt Shultz in minutes. But in the cold light of day, how should we react to this event?

What Went Wrong?

This operation was led by Victoria Police. The legality of Operation Fortitude is quite solid. These operations are routine and legal. Border Force were only part of the operation behind the scenes where Vic Police would bring people they picked up to check visa status. This is Legal. In my opinion it's also a reasonable use of resources.

But Mr Don Smith the head of Victoria and Tasmania Border Force in writing the offending media statement massivly overplayed both Border Force's role in Operation Fortitude and issued the type of menacing statement more expected in Soviet Russia than Liberal Australia.

Either Mr Smith believed this is how the operation would be undertaken, which as an illegal operation would be either grossly incompetent or show an astounding indifference towards the law which is quite explicit that Border Force require "reasonable suspicion of violation of immigration law", or he knew that he described an illegal operation, but hoped no-one would notice.

Law Enforcement agencies always push legal boundaries. It is in the nature of the job. We tell Law enforcement officer to do a job, but in the name of freedom, we make it harder for them by requiring them to get warrants etc. This is the tension Law Enforcement and Legislative Government are required to balance. It is a balance that the Abbott Government has tipped massively against freedom and towards Law Enforcement.

The Abbott Government has flat-lined almost terminally in the polls. Only one issue raises a murmur in the polls from the dead heart of the voting public. National Security. It didn't go unnoticed by Abbott and his colleagues that the more he makes Australia scared, the more votes he gets.

According to Laura Tingle Tony Abbott is trying to capitalise in this fact by delivering one defense/security "announcable" per week until the election. This Operation Fortitude participation is one of those announcables. I think it's quite likely that Don Smith was told to overstate Border Force's role in Operation Fortitude by his management under pressure from the Federal Government.

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/tony-abbott-is-creating-a-whitlam-government-of-our-time-20150814-giyzku.html

So the Border Force press release and the press conference were intended to make Melbourne feel safe from the scourge of immigrants, by threatening immigrants. They showed such an amazing tone deafness to a city of immigrants that one immediately has to suspect the Abbott Government's hand.

Most of the commentariat fell into their well worn rolls talking about this issue. The right wingers laughed at how anyone could imagine jackbooted thugs on the streets of Melbourne. This was all just a beat-up about a badly worded press release. They were right. The left wingers railed against the militarism of Border Force and their leaders. They were also correct.

DON'T TREAD ON ME!

Something significant occured on friday. Border Force collectivly threatened Melbourne. They told Melbourne they would be checking visa's at random. The press release not only could be read that way, but In my opinion was intended to be read that way. Melbourne Said "No". A line was drawn in the sand that will make it more difficult for another government to cross. When push came to shove Melbourne stared back at the bully and declared "DON'T TREAD ON ME"!