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DARWIN. As far as campaign stunts go, it doesn't get more blatantly political than a visit to an Australian Border Force patrol boat.
But reporters arriving to the carefully staged event on Tuesday were warned not to photograph Malcolm Turnbull alongside the Border Force's logo, which proudly adorned the Cape Jervis docked in Darwin.
The Border Force was keen to avoid being politicised, the PM's staffers explained, even as cameras were being assembled right behind them for a press conference.
But the seepage of politics proved unstoppable. Following a tour of the Cape Jervis, Mr Turnbull used the occasion to launch his strongest attack to date on Labor's asylum seeker credentials.
"The protection of Australia's borders is a political issue. We should not be naive about this," he said. "No matter how professional, no matter how capable, courageous and committed the Border Force is, everything depends on strong leadership. Labor cannot deliver that. [Bill] Shorten cannot deliver that."
In recent weeks, the Labor leader has had to contend with numerous candidates and retiring MPs distancing themselves from Labor's support for offshore processing and boat turn-backs.
Mr Turnbull said those individuals represented "just the tip of the iceberg" of dissent within Labor's ranks, and accused them of "crab-walking away" from strong border protection "in the direction of the Greens".
It was the second day in a row the Prime Minister has used a press conference to accuse Labor of cosying up to the Greens in case it needed their support to form a minority government.
"Regardless of what they say before the election, we know from the experience of Kevin Rudd's government that they will not perform, that they will fail, that they lack the conviction to be strong," Mr Turnbull said.
But he was coy when asked about the photo-that-must-not-be-taken, insisting there had been "ample opportunity" to photograph him as he walked about the Border Force vessel.
The Australian Border Force, essentially a rebranding of customs and immigration forces under former prime minister Tony Abbott, has attracted its share of controversy. In August last year, it announced an operation to randomly check people's visas in Melbourne's CBD. It spawned spontaneous protests and was cancelled just hours later, but not before being branded a "border farce".
And precious little is known about the Border Force's activities at sea, because the government does not comment on what it dubs "operational matters" such as boat turn-backs.
Aboard the Cape Jervis on Tuesday, a crew member revealed operatives had previously been involved in about four or five jobs during each 28-day mission, including intercepting asylum seeker boats or illegal Indonesian fishing vessels. But work had been quieter recently, he said.
