THE blurred lines between civilian and military authority during border protection operations will become even more fuzzy next week when Immigration Minister Scott Morrison tours northern military bases.

In an unprecedented move Scott Morrison is due to visit the navy’s patrol boat base at HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin and the RAAF base at Tindal near Katherine with junior defence minister Stuart Robert.

News Corp Australia understands that some senior military officers are unhappy that the Immigration Minister will use defence facilities, personnel and equipment for photo opportunities.

No Immigration Minister has made such a visit to military bases before.

“We are beginning to wonder who the defence minister really is?” a source said.

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The actual Minister for Defence, Senator David Johnston, attempted to clarify the situation last week during his broadside against the ABC when he said Operation Sovereign Borders, run by the three-star Lieutenant General Angus Campbell under a special dispensation, was actually a civilian law enforcement mission.

However the operation uses assets and personnel from Defence as well as Customs and Border Protection to locate and then turn or tow people smuggling vessels back to Indonesian waters.

Leading strategic thinker and head of the ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Professor Hugh White, said the government’s use of the military for Operation Sovereign Borders was the greatest blurring of the lines between military and civil functions that he had ever seen.

“Having it run by the military but in the Immigration portfolio is unprecedented and it is worth thinking about what that could mean for the Defence Force in the future,” Professor White said.

“There must be clear and unambiguous separation between civil and military functions but they are badly blurred here.”

He said it was surprising that such a strong advocate for the Westminster system’s separation of powers in Prime Minister Tony Abbott had pushed Australia much closer to the European system.