The federal government is using a multi-country, multimillion-dollar communications campaign to tell potential asylum seekers about its policy shift towards Papua New Guinea and to warn them against boat journeys to Australia.
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The Immigration Department is focusing on Australian-based diaspora communities, while Customs and Border Protection targets asylum seeker groups in source and transit countries.
The government says diaspora communities are known to be the "primary and most trusted source of information and influence among asylum seeker groups".
This week the Immigration Department released images of an Iranian woman with her head in her hands after she had been told she would be sent to PNG.
Under the new arrangements announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week, an asylum seeker who arrives by boat will not be settled in Australia if they are found to be a refugee. Advertisements have been running on Australian TV, radio and in newspapers since the weekend.
The Greens and independent senator Nick Xenophon say the campaign was not properly scrutinised by an independent committee before it went ahead.
Customs is using the same "if you come here by boat . . . " message, using contracted providers in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Middle East.
Customs said the campaign would use a mix of traditional media, social media and blogs. In Sri Lanka, radio and press advertisements are to begin this week. Leaflets and fact sheets translated into Tamil and Sinhalese will be distributed next week.
Australian officials in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, PNG and India have also distributed material. And the announcement is being posted on Australian embassy and high commission web pages.
Fairfax Media has asked Customs to specify how much the campaign will cost.
