Presumably they came before 2013. I remember when the ousted Kevin Rudd was brought back as PM to save the furniture. According to Google it was 19 July 2013 when Rudd announced a policy that all new irregular maritime arrivals would be sent off-shore for processing and even those found to be refugees could never settle in Australia. Presumably the following Abbott Government made that law so it became bi-partisan Operation Sovereign Borders.
