An advertising campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi will be carried out in Sri Lanka to deter asylum seekers from trying to enter Australia illegally by boat, labelled by The Daily Telegraph as a taxpayer funded "secret war".
The campaign would include "street drama", posters and banners, as well as "a variety of printed material" and seminars at Catholic churches, the newspaper reported.
Saatchi & Saatchi's Ronald Peiris, who is behind the anti-immigration message, said the campaign aimed to take its message directly to the people.
In the "street drama", actors will play people smugglers and warn locals their efforts to escape from Sri Lanka will end in disappointment.
Mr Peiris said the campaign would tell the truth.
"A lot of rumours are being spread that people can make it," Mr Peiris said. "What we want to tell the people is that what you hear is not what really happens."
"The idea is to say that irregular migration will get you nowhere."
The Government said the campaign "will inform potential irregular migrants of the realities, risks and consequences of irregular migration, in particular the dangers associated with long sea voyages."
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Street theatre to stop boat people (The Daily Telegraph)