Operation Sovereign Borders - the first six months

Operation Sovereign Borders

The first six months

On September 18, 2013, just 11 days after securing victory in the federal election, the new Coalition Government implemented one of the key policies of its election campaign, Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB).

"Stop the boats" was one of the Coalition's mantras when in Opposition. Once in government, its political promises transformed into policy.

Six months on, the Government says it is making "massive progress" in stopping the boats and having a "devastating" impact on people smugglers, with no successful people-smuggling ventures to Australia since December last year.

Critics, including the ALP, say that in implementing Sovereign Borders the Government has fostered a culture of secrecy and strained Australia's relations with Indonesia, while human rights groups say it has continued the "inhuman" treatment of asylum seekers in offshore processing centres.

ABC News Online documents the first six months of Operation Sovereign Borders, exploring the structure and events that have characterised the operation.

Operational matters

What the people smugglers and anyone they are trying to get on a boat need to understand is that this Australian Government will take the actions necessary to protect Australian sovereignty and stop the boats. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, January 17, 2014

Political oversight and responsibility for Operation Sovereign Borders rests with Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and his Customs and Border Protection Service.

Sovereign Borders is a civilian law enforcement operation, but in implementing its strategy for stopping the boats, the Government has increasingly adopted military structure, language, and methodology.

"The maritime border security operations being conducted by Australia are being undertaken to protect Australia's territorial sovereignty from the incursions of criminal people smuggling ventures originating outside of Australia," Mr Morrison said.

Three-star Lieutenant General Angus Campbell has been seconded to Immigration to oversee the Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Task Force, which is officially defined as a "military-led border security operation supported and assisted by a wide range of federal government agencies".

OSB: The Structure

The Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Task Force coordinates 16 agencies involved in border protection. The Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Task Force coordinates 16 agencies involved in border protection. View the operational structure

Before last year's federal election, the Coalition was critical of the Labor government, saying the organisational structure around Australia's border protection regime was disjointed and caused confusion.

It promised a unified command structure - and subsequently appointed General Campbell to run the joint task force that coordinates the efforts of more than a dozen agencies still involved in border protection.

Confirming precise details of what is occurring on Australia's northern maritime approaches is difficult due to a Government-imposed information vacuum.

While basic details about the Defence and Customs assets involved in the operation are available online, beyond this overview specific information is scarce and piecemeal.

Since launching OSB in September 2013, Mr Morrison has progressively turned off the flow of public information regarding the details of operations.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott compared border protection to being on a war footing.

"We are in a fierce contest with these people smugglers," he said on January 10. "And if we were at war, we wouldn't be giving out information that is of use to the enemy just because we might have an idle curiosity about it ourselves."

We are in a fierce contest with these people smugglers. And if we were at war, we wouldn't be giving out information that is of use to the enemy just because we might have an idle curiosity about it ourselves. Prime Minister Tony Abbott

In January 2014, the much criticised weekly media briefings conducted by Mr Morrison and General Campbell were abandoned, with Mr Morrison saying the "establishment phase of the operation" was over and arrival rates had declined.

"Operation Sovereign Borders briefings will be provided as required ... Weekly updates on arrivals and transfers will continue to be provided by way of a statement," he said.

General Campbell repeatedly defended the news blackout before a Senate committee, saying the information strategy was designed "so as not to give tactical advantage to people smugglers" and to "protect our people in the conduct of their duties".

The Opposition's Defence spokesman, Stephen Conroy, went so far as to accuse General Campbell of a "political cover-up", though he was forced to withdraw the comment and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten later said General Campbell deserved his frontbencher's respect.

Mr Morrison says secrecy is vital, as to divulge information would damage Australia's "public interest". The information blackout, according to the Minister, includes but is not limited to:

on-water tactics;

training procedures;

operational instructions;

specific incident reports;

intelligence;

posturing and deployment of assets;

timing and occurrence of operations;

the identification of individual attempted voyages; and

passenger information, including nationalities involved in those voyages.

'The shipping news' slide-table ADF papers reveal operational details https://www.abc.net.au/news/5330392 Details about some operational matters related to Sovereign Borders have been revealed by a surprising source - the Defence Force's own publicly accessible 'in-house' newspapers.



The details available online via the service publications include: personnel numbers;

deployments of specific units;

training; and

the identities and photos of personnel deployed on specialist boarding parties.



However, over time details about some operational matters have emerged - from asylum seekers, from Indonesia, and even from an unlikely official source: Australian Defence Force newspapers.

One Navy News story on sailors at sea on Australia Day 2014 revealed that up to 800 Defence personnel were deployed on land, air and sea. It also outlined that six Armidale-class patrol boats, the frigate HMAS Parramatta and Leeuwin-class hydrographic ship HMAS Melville were deployed on Operation Resolute, the name given to the ADF's contribution to border protection.

That is in line with what chief of Defence General David Hurley later told a parliamentary hearing in February: "The current Navy assets and equipment engaged in Operation Resolute to support Operation Sovereign Borders include two major fleet units, which are either frigates or Leeuwin-class hydrographic survey vessels, and seven Armidale-class patrol boats. During the cyclone season, there is an afloat support ship."

Other Defence news publications have also reported details of Sovereign Borders operations, including ship movements and readiness, and published names and photographs of members of the specialist boarding teams engaged in the sensitive task of boarding asylum seeker boats and detaining passengers and crew.

Border protection units

The Coalition Government has also overseen another long-term project to significantly expand the offshore operational capabilities of the Customs service's fleet. The first of eight new Cape class patrol boats was launched in October 2013, in what some defence analysts see as an important first step in transforming Customs into an effective Coast Guard.

PM Tony Abbott announced that the new boats "will take a lead role in Operation Sovereign Borders to combat people smuggling and illegal maritime arrivals".

The new Customs vessels are a modified version of the Navy's troubled Armidale-class patrol boats used to intercept asylum seekers – and are being constructed by the same shipyard.

On March 4, a spokesman for Mr Morrison confirmed media reports published in The Australian that at least six Navy patrol boats had been docked at the Darwin Naval Base amid concerns over structural cracks.

The price of vigilance

The absence of public information on exactly what resources are being deployed makes estimating the exact financial cost difficult, but what is known is that border protection in Australia has for some time been an expensive undertaking.

Defence's official funding lists a $9.9 million figure for Operation Resolute but it has not provided further details on the costs involved in deployment.

The last unofficial analysis of the detailed costs involved in Defence's contribution to border protection was conducted in July 2013 by James Brown, military fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, based on figures made public under the previous Labor government.

A former Army officer with operational planning experience at Australia's Defence headquarters, Mr Brown published a detailed analysis of Australian Defence Force units deployed on asylum seeker operations and the costs.

He costed Defence's contribution to border protection based on force structure and the operational tempo outlined in the Australian Defence Force Posture Review.

Mr Brown estimated that by July 2013, Operation Resolute was costing Defence at least $262 million a year.

A paper updated in September 2013 by the Australian Parliamentary Library noted that while his analysis provided a snapshot of known costs it did not take into account resources not allocated specifically to Operation Resolute, indicating the cost is likely to be significantly higher.

As an example of the scale of additional costs, HMAS Choules, which was used for a time to accommodate personnel working at the Manus Island offshore processing centre, costs $201,621 per day to operate.

In contrast to Defence's opaque funding, Customs and Border Protection provided a more detailed breakdown of figures for its air and sea surveillance operations, which in 2013-14 were budgeted at $324 million. This covers its role in handling asylum seeker arrivals but the same surveillance and patrol activities also monitor for other breaches, such as illegal fishing.

Customs has indicated that handling asylum seeker arrivals accounts for a significant component of its surveillance work, and therefore this budget.

While these interception operations represent a significant expenditure, by far the largest known cost is what Australia spends on detention and processing asylum seekers who arrive by boat.

"Budget papers reveal that expenditure on detention has increased significantly in recent years as arrivals have increased," the Parliamentary Library paper notes, with the re-opening of offshore processing centres in Nauru and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea contributing to the increase.

The most recent federal budget allocated $2.9 billion to offshore processing, and an additional $405.9 million was added in the Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

The Government placed responsibility for the increase in processing costs squarely at Labor's feet, saying it was forced to correct a massive unfunded "black hole" left by Labor.

"If you are going to run offshore processing you need to ensure that everybody is subject to it, with no exceptions, and that's just simply not what the previous government funded," Mr Morrison said. "This Government has corrected that."

In February, major infrastructure corporation Transfield Services announced it had won a 20-month contract worth $1.22 billion to provide "garrison and welfare services" at the Department of Immigration's Nauru and Manus Island offshore processing centres for asylum seekers.

Transfield shares immediately jumped almost 20 per cent after the contract was made public.

PM Tony Abbott says his Government is "stopping the border protection costs blowout", and Mr Morrison has cited the closure of a number of mainland detention centres as one of the first cost savings made because the arrival of asylum seeker boats has slowed.

"This Government is taking control of our borders, which enables us to shut mainland detention centres down in Australia," he said in January. "This will save taxpayers around $89 million a year and it's the first down-payment on the dividend of stronger border protection."

Operation Sovereign Borders: Costs snapshot Department of Immigration 2013-14 budget allocation for offshore asylum seeker management (Source) $2.9 billion Department of Immigration Additional allocation for offshore asylum seeker management in MYEFO (Source) $405.9 million Defence 2013-14 budget allocation for Operation Resolute (Source) $9.9 million Defence Estimate by military analyst James Brown for 2012-13 Operation Resolute spending (Source) $262 million Australian Customs and Border Protection Service 2013-14 Budget allocation for Civil Maritime Surveillance and Response Program (Source) $342.2 million

Boats turned back

One area where the Coalition differs from the previous government is in its willingness to tow boats back, a strategy that has been met with anger from Indonesia, at a time when ties between the two nations were already strained due to revelations Australia had spied on Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The Government has not published figures on how many boats have been turned back, making it impossible to officially confirm the number. However, a total of seven turn-backs have been reported by ABC Indonesia correspondent George Roberts and reporters on the ground from Fairfax and News Limited newspapers.

That includes three cases where orange lifeboats purchased by the Government were used to return asylum seekers travelling in unseaworthy boats.

The Immigration Minister says there have been no successful people-smuggling ventures since December 19.

An ABC Fact Check investigation found the reduction in the number of asylum seeker boats began before the Coalition took power. The numbers began to reduce after the Rudd government announced on July 19 that asylum seekers who arrived by boat would not be eligible to apply for resettlement in Australia, and instead any found to be genuine refugees would be settled in Papua New Guinea.

It has now been 95 days since the last successful people smuggling venture. For the same time period last year the number of IMAs that arrived was 3,116. The number of SIEVs during that same period was 55. OSB Joint Agency Taskforce Spokesperson, 24 March 2014

The numbers have remained low since, and Mr Morrison says the drop is evidence the Government's strategy is working.

The summer monsoon season - from October until March - typically translates into a lower number of asylum boats attempting the treacherous journey to Australia. General Campbell said in January that he would only be able to offer an assessment about how the operation was going once the monsoon season was over.

A spokesperson for the Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Task Force told the ABC that as of March 25, it had been 95 days since the last successful people-smuggling venture.

"For the same time period last year - December 20, 2012 to March 24, 2013 - the number of [illegal maritime arrivals] that arrived was 3,116, not including crew. The number of SIEVs [boats] during that same period was 55," the spokesperson said.

Interactive: Asylum seeker arrivals, 2009-2014 slide-table Successful asylum seeker boat arrivals (Source: Dept of Immigration) Maritime asylum seekers transferred to Australian immigration authorities

(Source: Dept of Immigration)



The Coalition's policy of turning back asylum seeker boats has not been without incident or controversy.

ABC Fact Check Explore four investigations from ABC Fact Check into key aspects of Operation Sovereign Borders. slide-table Is it illegal to turn back boats? Are asylum seekers breaking Aust law? Does Indonesia have to take returned asylum seekers? Are asylum seekers illegal arrivals? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-26/government-turn-back-boat-policy/4979898 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-24/tony-abbott-incorrect-on-asylum-seekers-breaking-australian-law/5214802 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-14/asylum-seekers-rescued-at-sea/5088168 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-06/morrison-correct-illegal-entry-people/4935372 ABC Fact Check examines whether international law allows the Coalition Government to turn back asylum seeker boats. Tony Abbott says asylum seekers who come to Australia are attempting to break Australian law. Is he correct? The Prime Minister goes a step too far when he says Indonesia is obliged to take in people rescued in its search and rescue region. Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says people illegally enter Australia when they come without a valid visa. Is he right?

Explore four investigations from ABC Fact Check into key aspects of Operation Sovereign Borders.

The Government apologised to Indonesia after several Naval and Customs boats violated its territorial waters, the legality of the use of lifeboats has been contested, and asylum seekers have claimed they were mistreated by Defence personnel involved in the towback operations. The mistreatment claims have been vigorously denied, and the Government says its actions do not breach Australia's international obligations.

The policy of towing back asylum seeker boats had been implemented under the Howard government with mixed success.

Several boats were returned to Indonesia but asylum seekers responded by sabotaging their vessels, creating high-tension situations that put the lives of asylum seekers and Australian personnel at risk.

When the Coalition announced it would return to the policy, the United Nations refugee agency questioned the legality of the strategy and former Defence Force chief Chris Barrie wondered whether it was even possible. Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd - accused of breaking his own 2007 promise to turn back boats - said it was "simply not possible under current circumstances" and accused Tony Abbott of focusing on "slogans that sound good" rather than "policies that work".

However, the Abbott Government has stuck to its pre-election commitment.

The first indication of its hardened stance came when, towards the end of September, two boatloads of asylum seekers were returned to Indonesia with Indonesia's permission, something that had only occurred once under the previous government.

Just days later an asylum seeker boat carrying 72 people sank 50 metres off Indonesia's shores with the loss of 44 lives, 18 of them children.

Survivors say they rang Australian authorities for help when both of the boat's engines broke down. Asylum seekers said eventually the pump motor ran out of fuel and the boat started taking on water.

Turbulent beginning slide-table 'We called Australia for help' https://www.abc.net.au/news/5336082 Barely 10 days after the launch of Operation Sovereign Borders, an asylum seeker boat carrying 72 people sank just 50 metres off Indonesia's shores with the loss of 44 lives.

A statement issued by Mr Morrison confirmed that Australian authorities received a phone call about the vessel, but said the distress call was received nearly a day later than when survivors claimed they rang Australia.

While some of the passengers made it to the shore, 44 lives were lost, and the images of anguished survivors on an Indonesian beach filled Australian front pages alongside questions over the Government's response.

In early November 2013, there were further tensions between Canberra and Jakarta over another boatload of about 60 asylum seekers rescued by an Australian ship off the south coast of Java. Indonesia refused a request by Australian authorities to take back the asylum seekers and the group was subsequently transferred to Christmas Island for detention.

The Indonesian government declared it would not take back asylum seekers rescued by Australian ships in Indonesian waters, prompting a clearly frustrated Mr Morrison to say publicly that "there's no real rhyme or reason to it".

Just one month later, the first known towback under the current Government is thought to have occurred between December 13 and December 19, when a boat was intercepted and forced back, eventually washing up on Indonesia's Rote Island.

A separate group of asylum seekers say they made it to an island just 35 kilometres from Darwin, before they were discovered by Australian authorities, after calling for help on a satellite phone when four of the passengers were lost overboard.

Passengers claim they landed on a beach soon after, and were quickly rounded up by military personnel and forced back on their boat.

What happened next is the source of much contention, but an asylum seeker on the boat claimed three people had their hands deliberately held to hot pipes by Australian personnel.

When the claims emerged the Australian Defence Force and the Government strongly denied this had taken place, and the ABC was criticised for its subsequent coverage of the story.

Burnt hands allegations Video: Asylum seekers on 'burns' boat speak out (7.30)

Asylum seekers on board an asylum seeker boat that was turned back to Indonesia in January allege Australian personnel Asylum seekers on board an asylum seeker boat that was turned back to Indonesia in January allege Australian personnel mistreated them , burning their hands. The Government and military have strongly denied the allegations.

In reporting the first footage of asylum seekers displaying burnt hands, the ABC said the footage appeared to back claims of mistreatment.

This coverage sparked criticism from the Prime Minister down, and prompted the ABC's managing director, Mark Scott, to say the wording of the report needed to be more precise.

The ABC's 7.30 program has since spoken to 12 passengers from the boat in two detention centres at opposite ends of Indonesia.

Mustafa Ibrahim, a 23-year-old Sudanese asylum seeker, gave a detailed first-person account alleging he was deliberately burned by Australian military personnel while in their custody.

Four other asylum seekers from the boat claimed they had either been involved in the burns incident or had seen it. Two others said they heard screams.

Two Somali passengers interviewed by 7.30 each described losing a brother overboard during rough weather, and one of them has called on the Australian Government to help provide information about his brother's whereabouts.

In response, the Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Task Force told the ABC that Australian authorities had interviewed the master of the asylum seekers' boat, who told them no-one had gone overboard. The agency said the weather had been "benign" at the time of the alleged incident.

"Notwithstanding this assessment, and as a precaution, the Australian authorities on scene conducted an extensive search by air and sea of the local area and did not locate any person from the vessel," a spokesperson said.

The statement also denied allegations that Australian personnel had mistreated the asylum seekers.

"All personnel conducting border protection operations are required to act in accordance with rules regarding use of force. This comprises force necessary and reasonable for the level of resistance displayed to establish or re-establish control of a situation."

UNHCR: Towbacks slide-table 'People are not supposed to be turned back' https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-11/unhcr-demands-explanation-on-australian-boat-policy/5195386 The UNHCR says the pushing back of asylum-seeker boats at sea could be a violation of international law, placing Australia in breach of its obligations under the Refugee Convention.

The passengers said they were surprised no-one in authority in Australia had sought to interview them about their claims.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison appeared on AM the morning after the report aired and dismissed the claims, ruling out any further inquiry into the events.

"When the assessment was done after these events there was found to be no breach. I believe the Navy," he said. "I don't find what was said [on 7.30] last night any more credible than what was said two months ago. Nothing's moved on - I suggest the ABC should.

"This matter is closed."

Orange lifeboats

One of the challenges regarding the return of asylum seekers to Indonesia has been the safety issues surrounding the small wooden boats favoured by people smugglers.

In the past, asylum seekers and people smugglers - faced with being turned back to Indonesia - have attempted to sabotage their boats, and the journey often leaves boats in an unsafe condition.

In order to negate these issues the Government has embarked on a strategy to return asylum seekers using commercially available orange lifeboats.

In early January, reports emerged the Government was considering buying lifeboats to use when asylum seekers were off the Australian coast in vessels deemed unseaworthy and therefore impossible to tow back.

The Government initially refused to confirm or deny the purchases, however on January 15 General Angus Campbell confirmed lifeboats had been bought, but refused to confirm they were being used for tow-backs.

Two days later, Fairfax newspapers reported that asylum seekers had been returned to Indonesia in a boat fitting the description of those purchased.

The asylum seekers claimed they were tricked into getting on the boat just off Christmas Island, after making their leaking vessel even less seaworthy.

They said that after being held on HMAS Stuart and then transferred to a Customs boat, they were told they were being taken to Christmas Island and were to get in the lifeboat for the final part of their voyage.

Instead they said they were towed to within three hours of the Indonesian coast and left with enough fuel to make their way to the shore.

Interactive: Asylum seekers' accounts of turnbacks Click or tap to read the stories of three asylum seekers who tried to travel to Australia by boat but were turned back by Australian authorities. Abdullah Ahmed Mohammed aged 28, from Eritrea

says he fled Eritrea after he was denied the chance to finish his schooling and forced to stay in the military beyond his national service requirements

paid $2,000 for a fake passport and a plane ticket to Jakarta

then paid $2,500 for a trip by boat to Australia

departed Indonesia Dec 28, 2013 aboard the 'Riski 02' boat, which is at the centre of claims Australian personnel mistreated asylum seekers

the boat reached Australian territorial waters off Melville Island, near Darwin, on Jan 1, 2014 but was turned back to Indonesia

[Read more] Mustafa Ibrahim aged 23, from Sudan

entered Indonesia illegally in Sept 2013

departed Indonesia Dec 28, 2013 aboard the 'Riski 02' boat

the boat reached Australian territorial waters off Melville Island, near Darwin, on Jan 1, 2014 but was turned back to Indonesia

alleges Australian personnel "intentionally" burned his hands on the boat's exhaust during the turn-back operation; Australian officials say the claims are "baseless"

[Read more]

Arash Sedigh aged 35, from Iran

a cabinetmaker, he began applying for skilled migration to Australia in 2007 but was unsuccessful

says he changed religion from Islam to Christianity, which is effectively illegal in Iran

travelled to Indonesia in July 2012 with his wife Azi, gaining a tourist visa on arrival

he and Azi have tried to travel by boat to Australia twice - and have twice been returned to Indonesia aboard orange lifeboats

[Read more]

Click or tap to read the stories of three asylum seekers who tried to travel to Australia by boat but were turned back by Australian authorities.

In March, asylum seekers in detention in Indonesia gave the ABC's 7.30 program a detailed account of being forced onto a lifeboat and returned to Indonesia after being held on the Australian Customs ship Triton off Christmas Island for up to a week.

Iranian asylum seeker Arash Sedigh said it was the second time he had tried to reach Australia but been turned back - and he would not be trying again.

Mr Morrison said the report showed the Government's policy was working to stop the flow of asylum boats to Australia.

Inside the orange lifeboats Sorry, this video has expired Video: Inside a lifeboat (ABC News)

The ABC's Indonesia correspondent, George Roberts, provides a look inside one of the orange lifeboats used to return asylum seekers to Indonesia. The ABC's Indonesia correspondent, George Roberts, provides a look inside one of the orange lifeboats used to return asylum seekers to Indonesia.

The ABC's George Roberts inspected one of the lifeboats when it was docked in the Indonesian port of Pangandaran.

The boat had washed up on the shores of a small fishing village in west Java on February 5; it was abandoned by the asylum seekers and impounded by Indonesian police.

A plate on the boat confirmed the manufacturer as Jiangyinshi Beihai, a China-based operation whose website has details on covered lifeboats that match those that have washed up on Indonesia.

The lifeboats are designed to be almost unsinkable, and are often used on oil-rigs as an escape craft; they are dropped from a height in the event the rig has to be abandoned.

Writing on the back of the boat in Java indicated it had been modified.

In a Senate estimates hearing, Customs chief executive Michael Pezullo confirmed his department had spent $2.5 million on the lifeboats so far, a figure that has since increased. He termed them "consumables", and therefore "they are not assets that are required to be counted as assets in the inventory of the Commonwealth".

He said they were purchased through an existing contract to supply fit-out for the Customs vessels Ocean Protector and Triton.

Murky waters

The use of lifeboats adds another legal complication to the practice of turning back asylum boats, which is already a grey area legally.

While the Government can legally turn back asylum boats intercepted within 24 nautical miles of the Australian coastline, an area defined as the contiguous zone, there is no legal consensus on whether boats can continue to be forced back once in international waters.

ABC Fact Check says that what is clear is that Australia cannot return boats to Indonesian waters without Indonesia's permission.

The practice also brings into play the 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, which means Australian vessels are obliged to render assistance to those in danger at sea.

The Government has countered that it will only turn boats around when it is safe to do so.

A spokesperson for the Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Task Force says the Attorney-General's Department and the Australian Government Solicitor provide legal advice about operations, in collaboration with appropriate agencies.

"The Australian Government is confident that its on-water operations have a sound legal basis," the spokesperson said.

But two maritime law experts raised questions over the legality of the strategy before a Senate committee on March 21.

Dr Kate Purcell, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New South Wales, said turning back boats beyond Australia's contiguous zone was problematic on a number of levels.

"It is my opinion that interdicting boats in Australia's contiguous zone and turning them back to the high seas would exceed Australia's limited right in that area to exercise the control necessary to prevent infringements of Australian immigration and customs laws and regulations," she told the committee.

"Turning boats back to Indonesia also carries a significant and inherent risk of violating Australia's obligations not to return people to persecution or other serious harm, or to places where there is a real risk that they will then be returned to other countries where there is a real risk of persecution or other serious harm."

She said Australia had international obligations in regard to the law of the sea and the migrant smuggling protocol, and "leaving boats on the high seas, whether the original vessels or Australian-owned lifeboats, would be inconsistent with these obligations."

Donald Rothwell, professor of international law at ANU, says the practice of towing vessels into the Indonesian exclusive economic zone, which extends beyond Indonesia's territorial seas, violates the right to freedom of navigation.

"I have come to the view that irrespective of issues of incursion into the Indonesian territorial sea, the act of towing a vessel into the Indonesian exclusive economic zone, whether that is the original asylum-seeker craft or whether it is a lifeboat, cannot be consistent with Australia exercising the right of freedom of navigation.

"The right of freedom of navigation exists generally within the exclusive economic zone in the high seas and it is a right available to all states."

"But the exercise of the right of the freedom of navigation with the intention of towing a vessel which is not otherwise incidental to the normal mode of operation of that vessel with the ultimate aim of that towing operation or escorting operation ceasing, and directing persons on board that vessel to go, presumably, to the Indonesian coast, I do not believe is consistent with the legitimate exercise of the right of freedom of navigation."

The fraught and complicated nature of turning back boats was highlighted when it emerged that Australian Naval and Customs vessels had entered Indonesian waters six times under Operation Sovereign Borders.

Australia issued an apology to Indonesia and provided an internal review explaining how the incursions happened to the Indonesian government.

In response to the incursions, Indonesia issued a strongly worded statement calling on the Australian Government to cease any operations that led to the incidents.

In mid-February, foreign minister Marty Natalegawa reiterated Indonesia's anger at the Coalition's turn-back policy in a protest message given to the Australian ambassador in Jakarta.

Dr Natalegawa told reporters that Indonesia does what it can to stop boats leaving the country and Australia's actions were "against the values of humanity".

"In the past, they have turned back boats or pulled the refugees back to Indonesia. That alone is a violation against their international commitment under the Refugee Convention," he said.

"But this time [in using the lifeboats] it has escalated."

The full contents of the Australian review into the incursions were not made public, but a former two-star admiral who led Australia's Border Protection Command has provided an explanation of the error.

Rear Admiral James Goldrick, who retired in 2012, says the controversy resulted from officers on board the Australian ships making what is by Navy standards, a basic mistake.

Interactive: Incursion into Indonesian waters explained naval-borders





The standard maritime boundary extends 12 nautical miles (just over 22 kilometres) from land.





But for archipelagic states such as Indonesia a more complex baseline formula applies. This effectively results in everything inside the archipelago being territorial waters, regardless of distance from the coast.





Retired Rear Admiral James Goldrick, who previously led Australia's Border Protection Command, says this means Australian units should have ended towbacks of asylum seekers' boats outside that ring.



But Rear Admiral Goldrick says the drop-offs occurred inside the baseline ring, resulting in Navy and Customs ships erroneously entering Indonesian territorial waters - even though they never crossed the conventional 12 nautical mile boundary.



Rear Admiral Goldrick says the ships misinterpreted the maritime boundaries around Indonesia, by relying on the standard 12 nautical mile limit of territorial waters and failing to account for a complex formula that is applied when calculating the limit of archipelago nations such as Indonesia.

Charting a new course slide-table Border protection and the media www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-25/herding-cats---embedding-and-osb/5343860 Mark Corcoran asks does embedding offer a way for the military and the media to peacefully co-exist on the troubled seas off northern Australia?

He dismisses speculation that the ships involved - Navy frigates Stuart and Parramatta and the Customs vessel Triton - may have inadvertently strayed off course, saying they knew where they were at all times, but adds the episode highlights shortcomings of Operation Sovereign Borders.

He expresses concern that Customs officers on board Customs service vessels supporting the Navy lack appropriate training for complex seagoing missions.

This is of particular importance in light of Customs' expanding maritime capabilities.

Rear Admiral Goldrick is also critical of the Navy; he says the problem was not the level of training but the judgment of officers involved.

He expects the Chief of Navy to now investigate "any lapses of professional conduct", echoing recommendations made by the internal review into the breaches.

Offshore processing

The Abbott Government's approach to the offshore processing of asylum seekers builds upon the structures put in place by previous Coalition and Labor governments.

After dismantling much of the Howard government's 'Pacific Solution', Labor - under prime ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd - spent the next four years re-implementing parts of it piece by piece.

When the Coalition came to power last year, it inherited not only the large Christmas Island detention centre but two recently re-opened offshore processing centres on PNG's Manus Island and the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru.

It immediately announced the expansion of both facilities, and the shifting of funding away from planned Australian-based detention centres, which had been announced under the previous government.

Interactive: Offshore Processing

Despite polling showing broad public support for offshore processing, the practice has a long history of criticism from human rights advocates. They label it cruel and unnecessary, citing a high incidence of mental health problems among current and former detainees, and research documenting the long-term detrimental impact of mandatory detention.

ABC Fact Check: Manus Island slide-table Who's responsible for Manus? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-27/who-is-responsible-for-asylum-seekers-detained-on-manus/5275598 Gillian Triggs is close to the mark when she says Australia is primarily responsible for people in detention on Manus Island.

The centres have been the site of numerous protests and self-harm attempts, detention centres have been likened to the US's Guantanamo Bay prison, and a Human Rights Commission inquiry recently heard children detained on Christmas Island describe it as hell.

The Coalition Government says offshore processing is justified if it helps stop asylum seekers attempting to arrive via boat, pointing to the deaths that have occurred over the past five years in the waters to the north of Australia.

Of the tiny Pacific islands selected by Australia for its offshore processing facilities, Manus Island was - until recently - the most obscure. However, it has since become a rallying point for portions of the population opposed to the policy.

Australia's presence on Manus, a 100-kilometre long island about 300 kilometres off the PNG mainland, stretches back to World War II, when Australian troops used it as an observation post.

In 2001, as part of the Howard government's 'Pacific Solution', a detention centre was built on the island. It was home to a solitary asylum seeker for several years, and then left unattended until the Labor government closed it in 2008.

The centre was re-opened in 2011, and in the final days of the Rudd government last year, Manus Island formed the centrepiece of its strategy to deal with asylum seekers.

Under the Regional Resettlement Agreement, asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat would be sent to Nauru and Manus Island to be processed, before being offered resettlement in PNG if they were deemed to be genuine refugees.

After taking power, the Coalition continued plans to expand the centre, and on March 21, 2014 there were 1,310 asylum seekers in custody there.

Despite its isolation, and attempts by the Federal Government and the commercial contractors charged with running the centre to restrict the flow of information, a series of disturbing allegations emerged that painted a troubling picture of life inside the centre.

Fights between local police and PNG military personnel broke out, there was growing unrest amongst the asylum seeker population, and two G4S employees were fired after mocking an asylum seeker's self harm attempt on social media.

Unrest turns deadly

On February 16, PNG immigration officials reportedly told asylum seekers their only option for resettlement would be Papua New Guinea. This came a week after PNG's foreign minister told parliament the government had not decided whether to accept refugees for resettlement.

Hours after the meeting at the detention centre, riots began.

Tension came to a head the next evening when violence broke out as police and locals entered the centre.

While information is still coming to light about what unfolded next, the results were deadly: by the end of the night Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati was dead, dozens of other asylum seekers had been injured and staff and asylum seekers had fled the centre.

Over the following days details about the unrest were slow to emerge. Mr Morrison initially said the violence happened only outside the centre, and appeared to lay blame at the feet of the asylum seekers involved in the protest.

"This is a tragedy, but this was a very dangerous situation where people decided to protest in a very violent way and to take themselves outside the centre and place themselves at great risk," he said immediately after the riot.

Mr Morrison later confirmed the violence that led to Mr Berati's death happened inside the centre's perimeter.

As more details emerged the Government announced three inquiries into the unrest, and is currently referring to these inquiries when requests to confirm new information are made.

But a series of firsthand accounts paint a picture of what one Australian G4S employee described as a "a frenzy of out-of-control violence", with the camp descending into chaos and expat G4S staff fleeing enraged locals.

Manus: The primary evidence slide-table Employee: 'Blood everywhere I looked' Detainee: 'Our lives are in danger' Leaked audio: 'Please don't kill me' The interpreter: 'I've seen too much' Staff guide: 'How can we feel safe here?' https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-04/g4s-employee-contradicts-png-police-report-into-manus-riot/5295740 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-06/manus-staff-issued-guide-on-handling-asylum-seeker-questions/5303696 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-12/manus-island-audio/5316700 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-19/guards-attacked-asylum-seekers-with-sticks-and-iron-witness-says/5270640 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-06/manus-staff-issued-guide-on-handling-asylum-seeker-questions/5303696 An Australian G4S employee says PNG police stood back and allowed locals to break into the compound, did nothing to stop the beatings and in some cases took part in the fighting. A letter written by one of the detainees and smuggled out by an expat G4S employee gives an account of the unrest and highlights the hopelessness and despair felt by those held in the centre. Audio recordings made inside the Manus Island detention centre before and after the deadly violence last month give accounts of gunfire and tell of ongoing fears of further attacks. Iranian-Australian freelance interpreter Azita Bokan, who was contracted to work on Manus Island, described seeing detainees with horrific injuries after the deadly clashes. The contractor that provides physical and mental healthcare to the asylum seekers issued staff with a guide on dealing with questions about the detainees' fears for their personal safety, living conditions and human rights.

According to audio provided to the ABC by crime writer and UNICEF ambassador Tara Moss, who has been posting information online from sources on Manus Island, the protests leading up to the unrest were noisy but non-violent.

An Australian G4S employee told the ABC that staff, under attack from rock-throwing asylum seekers, asked to withdraw from the facility on the second night, and agreed to hand over security to PNG police.

The source says PNG police then fired five or six warning shots and stood back as enraged locals poured into the compound over a back fence.

He said local G4S employees and local contract staff were armed with machetes and makeshift weapons and went systematically through the compound from room to room assaulting asylum seekers. Detainees who hid in their rooms were assaulted, with some police joining in the violence.

A makeshift hospital was set up on a concrete wharf next to the floating accommodation block used by Australian detention centre staff, and there the eyewitness said blood pooled as asylum seekers were treated for serious injuries.

"Once they [locals] knocked people to the ground, they were stomping on their heads with their boots. A day later you could still see guards and staff and cleaners walking around with blood on their boots," he told the ABC.

While order was restored to the centre within hours, according to those on the ground the situation remains tense, with asylum seekers fearing any contact with locals.

UNHCR: Offshore detention slide-table 'Arbitrary detention settings' https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-27/unhcr-report-on-nauru/5118588 UNHCR reports say the centres on Manus Island and Nauru appear designed to create conditions that pressure asylum seekers to return to their countries of origin.

As part of an inquiry the PNG government launched into the riots, with the permission of Justice David Cannings, ABC journalist Liam Fox was part of the first group of journalists allowed to tour the facility since it was re-opened.

He said damage from the deadly riots was clearly visible, with several broken glass panels in one of the dining rooms as well as bullet holes in the roof of an undercover area in one of the compounds.

"I've seen many shocking things as a journalist," Fox wrote. "The inside of the Manus detention centre is among the most confronting."

The fuse for the initial protests - the lack of information about the future of the 1,310 asylum seekers being held on Manus - remains unresolved.

During a recent visit to PNG, Mr Abbott - along with PNG prime minister Peter O'Neill - said the permanent resettlement of asylum seekers in PNG could begin within three months.

Mr O'Neill has indicated legislative changes will come before PNG's parliament in May and resettlement could begin soon after, but warns PNG will only re-settle some of any asylum seekers found to be refugees.

No other country in the region has currently agreed to offer residency to asylum seekers intercepted off Australia, though the Cambodian government has said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop raised the option of resettlement with it.

Declaring victory?

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison declares that Operation Sovereign Borders is working, and the Government has made "massive progress" in stopping the boats.

Mr Morrison says that since December 19, 2013, there have been no successful people-smuggling ventures to Australia.

"This operation is working," he told a parliamentary committee in January. "The boats are stopping."

In March, the Minister told his local newspaper, Sydney's St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, that the Government's policy was having a "devastating" impact on people smugglers' trade, and its actions were very popular with his local constituency.

"I get so much encouragement when I walk through Cronulla mall, go down the beach, or up to Miranda Fair," he said.

Despite vociferous opposition to the Coalition's tough border protection policies in some quarters, polling suggests most Australians think the Government is taking the right approach, or should be even tougher.

Smugglers' new strategies slide-table Smugglers offer discounts, try new routes https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-24/people-smugglers-adapting-methods-to-combat-australian-policies/5342276 People smugglers in Indonesia are trying new strategies in response to Operation Sovereign Borders, including travelling along different routes, such as this journey of an asylum boat that came within 35 kilometres of Darwin. Discounts and multi-buys are also on offer.

"The decisions I have had to take obviously have moral burdens, but the decisions the previous government took, which led to 1,200 people dying at sea and 15,000 people who are still waiting in camps and other places offshore, not being given visas, and $11 billion in cost blowouts, that's their moral burden," Mr Morrison said.

There is evidence that people smugglers are adjusting their strategies in response to Australia's new approach, in particular offering much cheaper journeys.

Passengers from recent asylum boats that were turned back to Indonesia have told ABC News they paid between $1,000 and $2,500 per person for the voyage.

While this represents a massive discount on the up to $13,000 that was being charged just a couple of years ago, a cut-price offer is not the only thing that has changed in the smuggling trade.

The available evidence suggests smuggling networks are also trying out new routes and offering to keep sending people until they make it. They also appear to have called an end to the 'safe-arrival or money-back' guarantees they had introduced in response to boat tragedies.

Other techniques that have been reported include one smuggling network getting real Australian visas from the embassy in Thailand to people on planes, and others considering using shipping containers to get people to Australia.

The ABC has already found evidence of shipping containers being used to get people from Thailand to Indonesia.

As smugglers adapt their business models, the man charged with running Operation Sovereign Borders has noted there are challenges ahead, especially with the end of the monsoon season looming - a time when the number of asylum seeker boats departing Indonesia tends to rise.

"I am not complacent. There is more to be done. People smugglers have not given up," Sovereign Borders chief General Campbell said in January.

"Australia is engaged in a contest of will and tactical action - one I am determined to win. However, it will only be after the monsoon season ends, around late March, that I will be able to be in a position to confidently offer an assessment of how the operation is going.

"Historically, the rate of boat arrivals has risen after the monsoon to what could be described as the 'business as usual level' for people smugglers."

Follow ABC News updates on asylum seekers

This is a snapshot of the first six months of Operation Sovereign Borders, first published on March 26, 2014.

For updates on asylum seekers and border protection, follow the ABC News story stream.

Credits

Incorporates reporting from George Roberts, Mark Solomons, Michael Brissenden and other ABC staff