In a first for an Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison has recorded a secret video sending an urgent message abroad.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has recorded a secret video targeted at people smugglers, warning that those willing to make the dangerous journey “will not succeed”.
The two-minute video, recorded in Canberra late on Friday night, will be translated into 15 languages and aired in countries rife for asylum seekers including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, The Daily Telegraph revealed.It will also target popular transit countries including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
“No-one who attempts an illegal boat journey to Australia will ever be allowed to settle here,” Mr Morrison warns in the video. “Australian border protection authorities will intercept any people smuggling boat that approaches Australia, and they will return those on board to their country of departure or their home country.”
“Make no mistake; if you attempt to come to Australia illegally by boat, you will not succeed. So do not waste your money or risk your life, or anyone else’s life, for nothing.”
This marks the first time an Australian Prime Minister has sent a direct video message to people smugglers, although it mirrors a similar message recorded by Mr Morrison in 2014 when he was immigration minister.
It comes after the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the medevac bill allowing for the medical evacuation of asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru.
The bill allows medical specialists to make the decision as to whether asylum seekers need to be transferred to Australia for “medical or psychiatric assessment or treatment”.
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