CC Image courtesy of Shane on Flickr

Australia is carrying out an initiative to repel refugees traveling by boat and seeking asylum there. Called the “ring of steel”, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called it “the biggest ever peacetime maritime operation in Australia’s northern waters”.

Turnbull says the initiative is part of an effort to prevent any increase in human trafficking of refugees in the wake of the Australian refugee trade agreement with the U.S., which was signed by Obama and will be honored by President Trump. (Read more details in the Business Insider story.)

You can listen to Turnbull’s remarks on the “ring of steel” in a podcast on Australia’s ABC news network and view pictures of Australian war ships and surveillance planes in action in The Daily Telegraph’s image gallery.