Australian prime minister who was instrumental in designing harsh border protection policies displays a block of metal in the shape of an Asian fishing boat

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

It stands on a desk in the prime minister’s office. A laser-cut block of metal in the shape of an Asian fishing boat, sitting on a gently curving wave, with the thick black lettering: “I stopped these”.

When the New York Times interviewed Australia’s new prime minister, Scott Morrison, the article contained a previously unknown detail: “His office features a model migrant boat bearing the proud declaration ‘I Stopped These’.”

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Morrison was instrumental in designing the country’s notoriously harsh border protection policies when he was immigration minister in the Abbott government.

Morrison and his successor, Peter Dutton, have never been apologetic over the Operation Sovereign Borders policy which includes offshore processing and turnbacks of asylum seeker vessels, because it brought to an end the deaths of people when boats often capsized.

On Wednesday, Australian Associated Press photojournalist Lukas Coch snapped a photograph during a roundtable meeting in Morrison’s office.

Morrison’s office told Guardian Australia the boat was a gift from a constituent about four years ago, and that he also kept it in his former office before becoming prime minister.

Morrison was immigration minister until December 2014.

The New York Times revelation sparked curiosity and incredulity, given the long-running and worldwide condemnation of how the Australian government has sought to stop people seeking asylum in Australia by boat.

A dozen refugees and asylum seekers have died in offshore detention. In 2014 News Corp reported a further three people had died after the turnback boat they were in landed on a remote beach in Indonesia and they were forced to trek through jungle.

The federal government has also commissioned the building of fake fishing boats – like those represented by the trophy – to send people back towards Indonesian waters.

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There have been allegations that Australian officials paid people smugglers to turn around.

The policy has been frequently criticised by domestic and international human rights bodies, the United Nations, foreign governments, NGOs, medical groups and former foreign heads of state.

In reality the boats have not stopped – with several making their way to Australian territory including the Cocos Keeling Islands, Saibai Island, and late last month, far-north Queensland.

Last year an Australian Border Force staffer, Michael Outram, told Senate estimates that the definition of “arrived” under the policy meant that “sometimes when a boat arrives, it actually doesn’t”.