Boat texts sent without minister's consent

By AAP Newswire

May 25, 2022

Text messages to voters about an intercepted asylum seeker boat on election day were sent without the approval of the home affairs minister.

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The new Labor government labelled the move a "disappointing" example of the Liberal-National coalition politicising border protection.

But outgoing Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said text messages sent by the Liberal Party on Saturday were not approved by her.

"I had no knowledge of the text messages. I didn't know that they were being even contemplated," she told the ABC.

"A lot of things were happening on election day. What the party chose to do is a party matter ... it wasn't something that was endorsed by me."

Ms Andrews defended the Border Force media release about the boat intercepted in Australian waters as "operationally focused".

"It was actually an important thing to do, given the fact that it was election day and there needed to be transparency," she said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the former government breached the bipartisan approach to border protection in a last-ditch effort to sway voters.

"We've communicated our displeasure at the publication and politicisation of that boat ... on election day," he told the ABC.

"We shouldn't be dealing with border security in that fashion."

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