| Great to see a boat making it to Darwin today, stop the boats & turn them back haha. Let them get to the mainland so they can be refuelled & sent back, I guess that must be how it works? Oh hang on, they are all staying . The Boat Tally Rises to 8 Since the Election. THE first asylum seeker boat has arrived since the coalition government introduced a new media blackout protocol, bringing the tally to eight since the federal election. A suspected asylum seeker boat arrived at Christmas Island carrying about 30 people on Sunday afternoon, Christmas Island shire councillor Gordon Thomson told AAP. The passengers were expected to disembark at Christmas Island at 3.30pm (local time). He said there were women and children on board who were very thirsty and drinking lots of water. HMAS Maitland escorted the boat to the island, Mr Thomson said. Customs and Boarder Protection declined to provide official confirmation as a result of the coalition government ending the practice of announcing boat arrivals as they happen. A spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison also refused to comment on the boat arrival and said information would be provided at a briefing on Monday. Mr Morrison and deputy chief of army Angus Campbell will give weekly media briefings about Operation Sovereign Borders, the coalition's asylum seeker and border protection exercise. The Abbott government says it won't constantly update the public on boat arrivals because it wants to starve people smugglers of information. "Taking control of how that information is released denies people smugglers the opportunity to exploit such information," Mr Morrison told AAP in a statement on Sunday. "Labor was impotent in response to arrivals. All they could do was announce them and run a water taxi service." Briefings will be weekly initially, but this could change "based on operational considerations". Extra briefings would be given when necessary about specific events. This could include instances of boats sinking. The new protocol for releasing information was agreed to on Thursday after the minister's first meeting with Lieutenant General Campbell. The government will also provide monthly updates on detention and bridging visa statistics for asylum seekers who arrive by boat. Mr Morrison's cabinet colleague Greg Hunt says there will be "regular, continuous, full disclosure" about boat arrivals, but it will be in line with military operational procedure. Labor leadership hopeful Bill Shorten said it was a disgrace if the government planned to not disclose details of drownings. "I can't imagine who dreamed that up, not telling anyone about deaths at sea," he told the Ten Network. "If a boat sinks ... and people drown, I don't think the government has a right to not tell people that this tragedy has occurred." OOPS Make That 9 Boats now !!!!! Labor has seized upon reports of a boat arriving in Darwin, accusing Immigration Minister Scott Morrison of going into hiding on the issue of asylum seekers. On Wednesday, Channel Nine reported that a boat carrying about 19 people, who are understood to be asylum seekers, arrived in Darwin overnight. But under a new policy, introduced by the Coalition government, Australian authorities no longer announce when a boat has arrived in Australian waters, and are not able to confirm reports. It was reported that the group was brought into Fort Hill Wharf in Darwin Harbour before being placed on a bus on Tuesday evening. Advertisement ''It appears another boat arrived and was taken into Darwin Harbour last night,'' acting Opposition Leader Chris Bowen told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday. ''A boat that Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison don't want us to know about.'' Mr Bowen said that Mr Morrison has gone from criticising boat arrivals in opposition to ''avoiding scrutiny'' on the subject when he was the Immigration Minister. ''Now he's actually the minister responsible for doing something about it, he's gone into hiding. He's in a witness protection program,'' he said. ''It shows that this new government is more interested in managing the media cycle than managing our borders.'' It is unusual for asylum seeker boats to make it as far as Darwin, although Customs reported that a boat was picked up north-west of the city on the day after the federal election. In a new policy approach, the Coalition has announced that it will not provide individual announcements when a boat arrives in Australian waters - as occurred under the Labor government - but provide weekly updates on Operation Sovereign Borders instead. Australian authorities have picked up an estimated nine boats carrying asylum seekers since the September 7 election. Addressing the media on Monday, Mr Morrison said he would not go into tactical or operational details in his planned weekly briefings, including whether a boat had been turned back. ''We are not getting into the tactical discussion of things that happen at sea ... This is an open briefing process but there are obvious limitations to what can be discussed,' he said. The Greens have argued they will try and use the Senate to force the government to release the information as it happens.
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