Soon after Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the September 14 federal election, opposition immigration spokesperson Scott Morrison confirmed the Coalition's startling plans to turn back every refugee from Sri Lanka without exception.
This would include a new plan to enlist the Australian and Sri Lankan navies to detain and return to Colombo any refugee trying to flee the country by boat, Morrison told ABC's Lateline on February 4.
When asked if this would entail a 鈥渘avy blockade鈥 in international waters 鈥 which would be illegal under international conventions 鈥 Morrison said this was a 鈥渄etail鈥.
The ultimate plan would be to forcibly prevent any boats to reach Australian territorial waters, where they could ostensibly apply for protection.
But the Coalition has already promised to deport all refugees from Sri Lanka without hearing their claims for protection. Morrison told Lateline that on a recent visit to Sri Lanka, he decided: 鈥淭he choice to actually go to Australia was represented as economic and lifestyle鈥.
He said he was told that Tamils who had voluntarily returned to Sri Lanka after the war 鈥渉adn't been violated鈥.
Morrison and opposition deputy Julie Bishop have singled out the mostly Tamil refugees who have fled Sri Lanka in increasing numbers since the 2009 war that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils. Bishop continually calls Tamils 鈥渆conomic migrants鈥.
Encouraging misunderstandings of the plight of refugees is a key part of the Coalition's anti-refugee strategy, which will likely be a focus of opposition leader Tony Abbott's election campaign.
The Coalition's plans for refugees were released as part of its 鈥淥ur Plan鈥 policy document last month.
Under the section for 鈥渟tronger borders鈥, the document puts locking up, punishing and denying protection of vulnerable asylum seekers front and centre. Coming before 鈥渇ighting terrorism鈥 and 鈥渋mproving foreign affairs鈥, policy to ensure that 鈥渢he boats are stopped鈥 indicates the Coalition's clear intent to make asylum seekers as election-deciding issue.
If elected, the Coalition would 鈥渋mmediately give new orders to the Navy to tackle illegal boat arrivals and 'turn back' the boats where safe to do so鈥.
Abbott has spoken often about how former PM John Howard turned boats back to Indonesia, often with disastrous results. This is despite the Australian navy and customs objecting to the practice, saying it violates the law of the sea.
The Coalition would also reintroduce 鈥渢emporary protection visas鈥 (TPVs), which deny refugee permanent refugee status and family reunion, and hold over them a constant threat of being deported.
The policy plan would severely penalise what the Coalition wrongly calls 鈥渋llegal boat arrivals鈥. It said offshore processing would be 鈥渞igorous鈥 so that 鈥渂ad behaviour has consequences鈥. It would 鈥渆stablish presumption against refugee status for people who arrive on boats without identity papers鈥 and 鈥渄eny benefit of the doubt鈥 to refugees who discard their papers.
This contradicts international and Australian law, which says no asylum seeker can be discriminated against for having the wrong papers or no papers.
It also appears the Coalition would cut its humanitarian intake back to 13,750 a year and 鈥渞eserve鈥 11,000 of these each year for offshore visa entrants 鈥 that is, refugees in camps awaiting resettlement.
It is pandering to the myths of a refugee 鈥渜ueue鈥, and 鈥済ood versus bad鈥 refugees.
Abbott has called the Coalition's policies the 鈥渇ull Howard package鈥.
But as horrific as this sound, it is not a far stretch from what Labor has been steadily implementing over the past year, peaking with its wholesale reboot of the reviled 鈥淧acific solution鈥 last August.
Hundreds of refugees 鈥 mostly Tamils but also dozens of men from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan 鈥 have been deported since the government restarted the 鈥淧acific solution鈥. The government says they 鈥渃hose鈥 to return to the countries they fled rather than be detained on Nauru or Manus Island.
Labor's introduction of bridging visas has allowed several hundred refugees to be released from detention and live in temporary accommodation with minimal financial support. They also live with the fear of being re-detained or deported.
A Tamil man living on such a visa in Perth committed suicide last month. Local refugee groups and Tamil organisations said he had suffered crippling uncertainty and feared he could have his refugee claim denied and be deported at any time.
Bridging visas do not offer permanent protection, and only differ from the Coalition's version of TPVs in that it is an even more precarious way to live in Australia, with no work rights and almost certain poverty.
Labor's announcement that plans were under way to build more permanent structures in the Nauru detention camp mean there would be little work for the Coalition to do on offshore processing if elected other than expand it.
The Labor Party has appointed Brendan O'Connor as its new immigration minister, after Chris Bowen took on the role of tertiary education minister.
O'Connor was the government's home affairs minister between 2009 and 2011, who frequently took responsibility when refugee boats sunk or were lost at sea.