How does Australia’s boat turnbacks policy work, and has it changed?

The discovery of a group of foreign nationals near Broome has revived the vexed politics of asylum boats in Australia.

Prior to 2013, such boats arrived frequently and generated headlines with vigour.

But that changed with the advent of a bipartisan policy to intercept boats in Australian waters and turn them around.

The policy, officially called Operation Sovereign Borders but often called turnbacks, has seen far fewer unauthorised boats reach the Australian continent – about two dozen according to official figures, although those figures are notoriously vague.

That’s compared to the 278…