Australia’s border security boss has admitted that an asylum seeker boat “slipped through” last week, as a campaign is released in multiple languages to prevent refugees from making the trip over.
Twelve refugees were dropped in mooring near Truscott-Mungalalu Airbase in Western Australia last week, making it past Australia’s naval border forces.
Today, Sovereign Borders Commander Rear Admiral Justin Jones admitted the blunder.
“This one slipped through, but operation sovereign borders is a layered operation, and did exactly what it was supposed to do,” he said on Weekend Today.
The refugees were apprehended and flown to Nauru by the Australian Border Force once they made landfall in Western Australia.
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The admission comes as a video campaign is released in multiple different languages overnight to caution would-be refugees against travelling to Australia via illegal means.
“People smugglers will spread lies about this decision in an attempt to take your money, put your life at risk and offer you a futile journey in return,” Jones says in the video campaign.
“Let me be clear, anyone anywhere, who attempts to illegally migrate to Australia by boat will be stopped, returned to their country of origin or point of departure.”
The English version went live seven days ago, while the videos in other languages including Vietnamese, Somali, Indonesian, Farsi and Arabic were posted to YouTube yesterday.
