Time and again he reframed the subject, telling reporters that the only question was whether he had stopped-the-boats. To that mind-numbing reduction now can be added the dangerously slippery enablers: "whatever it takes"; and the even more insidious, "by hook, or by crook".

Former prime minister Tony Abbott discusses counter terrorism with Victoria Police and the AFP at Endeavour Hills Police Station in Melbourne in June. Credit:Josh Robenstone

Perhaps this was a new form of embedded honesty because it seems, "by crook" may be the new official low of border policy. Or is it? Three cabinet ministers, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, and now the Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, have denied the allegation that Australia has paid criminals.

But Abbott has pointedly refused to confirm their certainty, implicitly rebuking them for being so definitive. Would he rather the rumour abounded In Indonesia that we did pay them? And if so, how does that help in the previously sacrosanct imperative to ensure there were no Australian policy "incentives" for people smugglers or refugees?

The secrecy at the heart of Operation Sovereign Borders should never have been allowed because, as critics complained, it inevitably invites a loss of confidence and the suspicion of official malfeasance. That suspicion has just become a material claim and one that demands immediate examination. The opposition, late to the party on this as well as the above-mentioned citizenship denial, is now pushing for an Auditor-General's inquiry.