Chameleon Magazine

When Sky News asked Border Security Minister Alex Norris a dead-simple question — how’s that gang-smashing going? — he responded like a man who’d just discovered the word “intervention” on a Word of the Day calendar and decided to use it 4,000 times. Apparently, 4,000 “interventions” have been carried out against people smugglers. Sounds heroic. Sounds efficient. Sounds…completely unverified.

🕵️‍♂️ “Intervention” or Interpretive Dance?

Let’s decode government-speak for a second. “Intervention” can mean literally anything short of a full nap. Maybe someone frowned at a smuggler in a hallway. Maybe someone thought about writing a memo. Maybe someone deleted a suspicious tweet. Who knows?

Because Mr Norris didn’t say “convictions,” or “custodial sentences,” or “we jailed a bunch of people and here’s the evidence.” No. He said “interventions,” like a vague uncle explaining his job at Christmas.

If 4,000 smugglers really were locked up, you’d think someone — anyone — would mention it. Maybe the Crown Court? CPS? The Ministry of Justice? A bored intern with access to Google Docs? Nope. Silence.

And that’s the point. When you’re asked how many bad guys got jailed and you answer with “interventions,” what you’re really saying is: I hope no one checks.

Sadly, no one on Sky did.

So now we’re stuck with a claim so unsupported it might as well be on a juice cleanse.

🧊 Challenges 🧊

Why does “evidence” always seem optional when a minister’s on camera? 🤨 How long will we let big numbers substitute for actual accountability? And when did “intervention” become the grown-up version of “I did a thing”?