Common sense, defiance and assiduous strength in numbers prevailed yesterday, as the truly farcical ‘Operation Fortitude‘—a proposed crackdown on visas on the streets of Melbourne by Australian Border Force, scheduled for this weekend—crashed and burned as quickly as it emerged, via a press release from 1938 on Friday morning.
Unleashing a fighting spirit reserved for the moments when the coterie of thick skulls that run our country truly uck fup, protesters in Melbourne quashed Operation Fortitude before it had the chance to begin.
Today, reminiscing on the scandal whose life span can be counted by the hours, not the days, #PutYourPassportsOut has been gaining traction on Twitter – much like the #PutYourWalletsOut (RIP #choppergate) before it.
#PutOutYourPassports
Here’s mine.
#BorderForce – Stop peddling xenophobia!
Enough is enough! pic.twitter.com/OKceRHaOsY
— Mariam Veiszadeh (@MariamVeiszadeh) August 28, 2015
I love you Melbourne. #PutOutYourPassports pic.twitter.com/TVDcZv9MlO
— Michelle Nicol (@mixhelle) August 28, 2015
This from Facebook #putoutyourpassports #auspol pic.twitter.com/ar7y0jJd1u
— Julian Abbott (@JulianBAbbott) August 28, 2015
All legit here. #PutOutYourPassports #GetAWarrant #BorderFarce pic.twitter.com/GswwCQBM3K
— oneplanetmikey (@oneplanetmikey) August 28, 2015
Ghastly misunderstanding, of course. Still, best to #PutOutYourPassports pic.twitter.com/a6VxCLN2rR
— Leith McPherson (@leithmcp) August 28, 2015
Reason #4,657 why i love Twitter RT @AmyFeldtmann: Ah, Twitter. #PutOutYourPassports #borderforce pic.twitter.com/yazVqvzWvE
— essjayeff (@essjayeff) August 28, 2015
Take that Abbott!! #PutOutYourPassports #borderforce pic.twitter.com/rgntGjS6mz
— giantroo (@giantroo) August 28, 2015
#PutOutYourPassports pic.twitter.com/Cvmp3yTWKm
— Richard dinnen (@Rdonair) August 29, 2015
Commentary on the legitimately logic-defying Operation has continued today, as former Independent MP Tony Windsor spoke on ABC radio this morning, saying the incident was far from a mystifying mistake: rather, it represented a strategic self-inflicted wound. Windsor described Operation Fortitude as one with a “deliberate agenda to create fear in the community”.
Tony Windsor also estimated that #BorderFarce was all part of an election-winning plan.
“I’ve got no doubt that some of these people in Abbott’s government hope that something goes wrong domestically. That they can taunt a Muslim into doing something so that they can say that we’re the only ones that can protect you, the Labor party are too weak to protect you, vote for us.”
Presenting evidence to the contrary, political correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald, James Massola, tweeted about one response within the Liberal Party room.
A Liberal texts me: “We are cleaning up our self-inflicted fuck-ups much faster now. Normally that would have taken a week! High five!”
— James Massola (@jamesmassola) August 28, 2015
High five? Okay.
RIP, Border Farce, we hardly knew thee.
