belly -
1) From time to time all Governments ask the media not to run stories which can be sensitive in nature or just plain embarrassing.
2) boat arrivals are probable the major embarrassment to this Government especially since they had 3 ministers in Indonesia having talks.
By embarrassment I mean voters become more disillusioned very time one comes. So it is in there interest to suppress the stories.
3) 2 boats that had over 140 people went largely unreported by Yahoo Australia and other media.
I posed a question about this, but if you read the original post you will see the main trust of it is with such a large enforcement arm can't the Indonesian stop many boats and pointing out that "140 foreigners standing on a wharf then getting onto a fishing boat would rather stand out." Also the embarrassment of the 2 boats arriving to the Government.
Why do you think America wants Assange so bad he showed them to be total hypocrites and blatant liars. Virtually all Governments would love 1 thing - no free press or media.

Misc it is now September 9th and not 1 refugee has been sent to live in a tent like Juliar said.

The opposite scenario could be true as well, if you were a government planning on turning back refugees or aiding the Indonesians in removing all illegal immigrants from their territory you probably wouldn't want the public to become used to and therefore accepting of boat arrivals, if it became normalised in people's minds and if they saw no obvious effects on their own community it'd be harder to promote strict border controls as an election issue.
What we are really discussing is whether the mainstream media is part of the state or not, most people would say that it is, that it's an arm of the modern state and that the state exists and self perpetuates regardless of personnel changes in parliament or the public service.
The media serves the state, the state is an entity unto itself which is steered by the managerial castes, elected and non elected.

Jay Of Melbourne - What you say is correct in that Governments to get compliance from media withdraw there access to ministers and media events in other words be nice or you will not get anymore stories. This does not always work for them but it is one of there tools.

Phillip S I have given you a list of promises made by various Governments over the years that have not come into fruition. In other words they told little white lies to get themselves elected.

You haven’t remarked to any of these. Why is that? You can have a full sentence here.

Do you think it's OK for Governments to deliberately lie to the people to achieve Government? (LNP not Labor, of course.) Note: Any more than, “Yes" or "No" is an excuse.

Other contributors. Please help me out here with Promises made in your area that have never be forthcoming. I'm sure you all have a list somewhere.

Jayb - Sorry I missed it but I have written on at least 3 different stories my thoughts on that subject which is as follows.
Any politician who lies to get elected should immediately be removed from office.
I have nothing but contempt for politicians who lie even to the point of saying the police should bring charges against them for " gaining advantage by deception " which is a criminal offense (but it won't happen who controls the police)
The last time was August 20th when this appeared in the media
" Labor backbencher Steve Gibbons has called for fines for journalists who publish misleading or incorrect stories." "the Member for Bendigo, told Parliament that people were losing faith in journalism and voiced concerns about the lack of accountability in the sector."

This person person obviously does not know the saying the pot calling the kettle black

Philip S: I have nothing but contempt for politicians who lie even to the point of saying the police should bring charges against them for " gaining advantage by deception.

So I take it that you will be voting for a minor Pary not the LNP, Labor or the Loony Greens next election. Am I right?

Still haven't remarked on the list I gave you. Why Not?