Julie Bishop dismisses Bill Shorten's 'police state' claim over Operation Fortitude farce

Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has labelled Bill Shorten's reaction to an operation involving Australian Border Force as "over the top".

The opposition leader has raised concerns about the now cancelled Operation Fortitude planned in Melbourne over the weekend, saying he didn't want to live in a "police state".

Ms Bishop said it was never the intention of the force to stop people randomly in the streets.

"Bill Shorten's reaction is completely and utterly over the top," she told Network Ten today. 

But Mr Shorten hit back, saying it wasn't a matter of whether Labor's reaction was right or wrong.

"The real issue is Operation Fortitude has become a farce", he told reporters in Brisbane.

Instead of taking responsibility for the error, the federal government is throwing "some middle level, bureaucrat in a uniform under the bus", Mr Shorten said.

The Guardian reports a press release was indeed sent to the office of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton on Wednesday but was not read.

“It was not opened or read because it looked like a routine operation,” the spokesman is quoted as saying.