Border Force admits the abandoned Operation Fortitude in Melbourne was a public relations disaster and says it won't undertake anything similar in the future.
Regional commander for Western Australia Rod O'Donnell told a migration conference in Perth on Friday that Border Force had lost the trust of the public with the plan to randomly stop people in the streets and check their visas.
Mr O'Donnell insisted the operation was inaccurately described in a press release.
"We identified the fact that we got that wrong in terms of how we communicated," he said.
"It's fair to say that in establishing a department like ours ... there'll be some hiccups. I think that was a hiccup.
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"Our challenge now is to regain the trust in relation to those types of activities."
Mr O'Donnell said future operations would be in line with community expectations and ensure Border Force didn't overstep its legal powers.
"We will continue to work in spaces where our compliance field teams identify threats and risks around unlawful non-citizens and those who have breached their visa conditions," he said.
"Those kind of activities will actually continue to occur, but not in the way that was described in that particular circumstance.
"The idea of randomly stopping people in the streets is not something that we are going to do."
Migration Institute of Australia president Angela Chan told Mr O'Donnell that some people, many who had been in the country for 10 years or more, were not coming forward regarding bridging visas as they were "terrified" by "the current atmosphere and the media portrayal of Border Force".
There was now a "heavier touch" approach to bridging visas, with some cancelled or not being granted when they previously would have, she said.
"There are people out there who would like to comply, who are ready to comply," Mr O'Donnell said.
"All I know is that the way we are conducting our compliance activity - notwithstanding the issues around Fortitude and the way it was described - has not significantly changed.
"But that sort of feedback ... that the way we are portrayed, the way we're going about our actions is reducing the level of voluntary compliance, that's not a good outcome.
"I'd rather have as many people come to us to get the issues resolved ... rather than having to spend a lot of resources to go and locate people."
