That same day Scott Morrison refused to confirm the boats’ existence despite the fact that people in Australia had spoken to people on board. He said that there were no “significant incidents at sea” to report. He would not say whether any boat had reached Australian waters, or whether the government had taken any action.

The known facts suggest several Tamil refugees reached the waters off Christmas Island last weekend. The facts make it apparent they included several children, and it is easy to infer they would have been distressed: it is a long and uncomfortable journey. They were seeking asylum from the Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka, which has an appalling record of mistreating Tamils who had (or may have had) any connection with the Tamil Tigers.

From this point on, the facts are more difficult to pin down. There is reason to think the refugees have been handed over to the Sri Lankan navy. They have not made phone contact again since Saturday. That suggests either their phone has been confiscated or disabled, or they are in some other difficulty. Morrison refuses to say anything about the issue because it is an “on-water matter”. A Sri Lankan spokesman told ABC Radio: ‘‘We are not aware of any arrangements of the Australian navy handing over refugees, to Sri Lankan navy’’, which looks like a denial, but leaves plenty of room to move.

All that can be said with any confidence is at least 153 refugees have tried to get to Australia; they have disappeared; any decent human being would be concerned about their safety and their fate; and a minister of the Crown refuses to tell the public anything: he won’t even acknowledge or confirm known facts.

Morrison officially calls boat people “illegal” in an attempt to convey the impression that they are criminals, when in fact they commit no offence at all by coming here as they do. He officially tells us he is “protecting” us from the “illegals” and even changed the name of his department to “Immigration and Border Protection”. It is all a cynical exercise designed to persuade a gullible public that we are being protected from criminals when, in fact, we are mistreating innocent, frightened human beings.