Operation Fortitude seems to have been named using the wrong f-word. Many would work, but let’s go with Operation Farce.

Not since Tony Abbott gave Prince Philip a knighthood has the nation appeared so immediately united in calling out a truly stupid and offensive notion.

It began with a morning press release, announcing proudly that our new “border force” – a revamped and armed version of the frontline activities of immigration and the customs service that began operations in July – would be part of a big “crime crackdown” in Melbourne on the weekend.

“ABF officers will be positioned at various locations around the CBD speaking with any individual we cross paths with,” said the border force regional commander in Victoria and Tasmania, Don Smith.

“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.”

Immediately apparent to pretty much everyone except Smith, or whoever writes his press releases, was that this would require border force to “profile” who they questioned, or else uselessly question an awful lot of people out having fun on a Saturday night, that it would mean they were asking for documentation without any real reason to think the person had committed an offence and that – given all the pre-warning – anyone who really had a problem with their visa would probably be elsewhere.

Protest in Melbourne forces Australian Border Force to cancel visa crackdown. Link to video

It was also pretty obvious this was border force establishing its paramilitary credentials as a law enforcer (it can now carry arms, detain people and gather intelligence) with a remit far beyond our borders.

Turns out there is a good reason to follow proper process when it comes to paramilitary and law enforcement type things – the kind of processes the actual military and police force often have.

As public fury grew, border force issued another statement claiming the “media” had got the first statement wrong, and they had no intention of stopping people on the street to check their papers. Pity about those quotes.

By mid-afternoon protesters were blocking the streets of central Melbourne and Operation Fortitude had been cancelled.

Australian Border Force was left looking like Dad’s Army. The most obvious conclusion is that if customs is to become a “core national security agency” it has to act like one. The bigger message is that militarising customs and immigration was a bad idea in the first place.

Postscript: Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg later emerged to say the original press release had been issued at “low level” (later clarifying it was seen by the bloke quoted, who is the head of Victorian and Tasmanian operations in his organisation, so not exactly “low”), that border force had never intended to “pro-actively engage with people” and that it was all very “embarrassing” but not “fatal”. None of which changes these conclusions.