Thread by @ShayneNeumannMP

THREAD- In December last year, @smh broke a story that “operational limitations” were being placed on the @AusBorderForce fleet.

“Operational limitations”

AKA they were stopping the boats that patrol and protect Australia’s borders.

smh.com.au/politics/feder…

Leaked emails from senior Border Force officials stated “ships will cease active patrolling to achieve this fuel saving.”

No joke.

To. Save. Money. On. Fuel.

.@PeterDutton_MP’s response?

He was standing up by 10am the morning the story broke, holding a press conference and denying the cuts ever happened.

“There has been no budget cut, there will be no reduced presence on the water, we have been very clear about that.”

He also- as Peter Dutton often does- took a shot at the journo who wrote the story in a forum where they had no way of responding.

He said “there are lots of conclusions that, I think, were incorrectly jumped to.”

Dont forget this.

In Senate Estimates last Monday, @AustralianLabor Senator @kimbakit wanted to check with the Department and ABF to make sure that the boats that protect Australia’s borders- targeting people smugglers, illegal fishing and other transactional crime- had not been stopped.

It was made crystal clear by the ABF Comissioner...

No patrols had been stopped (and definitely not to save money on fuel).

The ABF Commissioner even said “I do recall an article that suggested that we were proposing to withdraw ABF vessels from operations. My point was that that's not accurate… that, though, was a proposal that was not implemented.”

Remember, @PeterDutton_MP said in that very @smh article “the government has not reduced our on water efforts and won’t.”

He even doubled down on this answer when those pesky leaked emails were brought to his attention.

Side note: He also- as Peter Dutton often does- took the opportunity to lie about Labor’s strong position on border protection, effectively encouraging the people smugglers to start their vile trade.

And that brings us to now... and the head of the ABF sends a letter, correcting the record of what he told the Senate, saying remember those cuts I said didn’t happen...

They happened.

He admitted “there was a brief period between 3 and 11 December 2018 where ABF vessels adopted a more risk based approach.”

Less patrols is “a more risk based approach” apparently.

So had the risk to Australia’s border decreased?

Because on 6 December at Parliament House- the same time patrols had been cut- @ScottMorrisonMP was saying this...

It is clear – Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton chose to put Australia’s border security at risk with their savage cuts.

The Liberals tried to sweep their cuts and chaos under the rug.

Facts matter... and Peter Dutton has an ever growing list of failures he needs to come clean over – from handing over a $423 million contract to a company run out of a beach shack to these vicious cuts to the ABF.

I mean, you’d hate to jump to conclusions.

Oh and unlike the Liberals, Labor make sure there is enough fuel for the Australian Border Force fleet to protect our borders ⛽️🛥