Australian Border Force commissioner says operational matters won’t be discussed publicly

Perth : The commissioner of Australia’s newly created Border Force says details of the agency’s “operational matters” will not be discussed publicly.
The agency — which merges the frontline functions of Customs and Immigration — officially begins today.It will be responsible for immigration security at Australia’s air and sea ports and will also patrol Australia’s waterways, with Operation Sovereign Borders falling under its control.The Government has not been releasing information about what it calls “on water matters” as part of its border protection measures.At a press conference following his swearing in this morning, the Border Force’s new commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg said he would not be either.”Operational security is paramount to conducting effective strategic and tactical operations,” Mr Quaedvlieg said.”I don’t intend to stray from the current position in relation to operational security in relation to Operation Sovereign Borders.”
New laws won’t override whistleblower protection, commissioner says
The Border Force will also be responsible for Australia’s detention centres.Lawyers and doctors working with asylum seekers have raised concerns the Border Force Act could see some government-contracted workers at onshore and offshore detention facilities risk up to two years in jail if they speak out about what they see.”If for example a psychologist is working in a detention centre, that psychologist then comes back from the centre and writes an article, for the ABC or for a newspaper documenting — in that person’s clinical opinion — the long-term physical and mental harm that’s being meted out to asylum seekers, that person could go to jail,” Australian lawyers’ alliance spokesman Greg Barns told ABC’s The World Today program.Labor supported the laws setting up the new agency, but deputy leader Tanya Plibersek backed the concerns.”It’s important where there are cases of abuse for those cases to be able to be made public,” Ms Plibersek said.But Commissioner Quaedvlieg said the laws were aimed at protecting classified information and would not override existing whistleblower protection laws.”This is about the leaking of classified information that can compromise operational security or our sovereignty,” he said, indicating that anyone who shared such information illegally would be prosecuted.”It’s not about people having a right to be outspoken in the community.”Mr Quaedvlieg also added that he considered it highly unlikely those who had spoken out to date would be prosecuted and said he not believe conditions in detention camps would be considered classified information.