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Thread: Peter Dutton in the land of Oz

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    Peter Dutton in the land of Oz

    Thought this transcript may be of interest, am sure the responses receiving coverage

    SourceURL http://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/p...vine-LIVE.aspx

    Wednesday, 14 March 2018
    Interview with Miranda Devine, Miranda Devine LIVE

    Subjects: Humanitarian assistance to minority groups in South Africa; AAT decisions.

    EO&E.............................................. .................................................. ...........................................

    MIRANDA DEVINE:

    Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is on the line. Good afternoon Minister.

    PETER DUTTON:

    Good afternoon Miranda.

    MIRANDA DEVINE:

    Now I know that you are very exercised and concerned about these South African farmers who are really, if anyone is persecuted, they are. Are there any plans by the Government to help them?

    PETER DUTTON:

    Well certainly if you look at the footage and you read the stories, you hear the accounts, it's an horrific circumstance that they face and Australia has a refugee and humanitarian program – as well as a number of other visa programs – where we have the potential to help some of these people that are being persecuted.

    So I've asked my Department to have a look at options and ways in which we can provide some assistance because I do think, on the information that I've seen, people do need help and they need help from a civilised country like ours and more importantly than that, the people that we are talking about want to work hard, they want to contribute to a country like Australia – and that's been the story of many migrants over a long period of time – so we want people that want to come here, abide by our laws, integrate into our society, work hard, not lead a life on welfare and I think these people deserve special attention and we are certainly applying that special attention now.

    MIRANDA DEVINE:

    So how would it work to bring some of these farmers into Australia? Would they come in as refugees or under some sort of other program?

    PETER DUTTON:

    Well there's an in-country persecution visa category now, there's the ability to come under the refugee and humanitarian program where we take referrals, including from people in Australia. So we need to look at the individual cases and the Department is working through that at the moment, speaking to our experts obviously in the region as well and looking at ways that we might be able to have a look at some of these horrific cases.

    There are existing visa categories where we can accommodate people and we're just looking at the moment as to what might be feasible and hopefully we'll make an announcement in due course.

    MIRANDA DEVINE:

    And do you think the South African Government will be cooperative?

    PETER DUTTON:

    Well we can work with obviously government, as we do now all around the world. So we'll look at the individual circumstances and obviously through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade we've got a very good network of diplomats and people within Border Force, within Australian Federal Police and within the Immigration Department that are scattered across the world, including in parts of Africa. So we can work with our partners globally.

    Look, there are a number of ways we can attack it, but this is what we're looking at at the moment. We want to try and work out what is the best path forward.

    MIRANDA DEVINE:

    That's great news Peter Dutton and I mean how do you make you know sense of the fact that all these human rights commission and all the refugee activists and the lobby groups that continually whine about Australia failing its moral duty on refugees which couldn't be further from the truth, being completely silent on this issue, on white South African farmers and our reporter Paul Toohey actually contacted them, they were not interested, they said it's not part of their bailiwick.

    PETER DUTTON:

    Well there's plenty of hypocrisy within that space unfortunately Miranda and we cop it everyday in this portfolio, but in the end it makes no difference, not even a ripple and we need to do what is in our country's best interests.

    Our borders are secure because we've taken tough decisions and because we've secured our borders we are able to bring people in the right way and not by boats and we turn back a lot of people that make application through the refugee and humanitarian program or through the visa categories otherwise – either because they are a security risk or we don't believe that they're of good character to come into the Australian society – so the last people I'll be taking lectures from frankly are those involved on the Left, the Labor Party and the Greens who saw 1,200 people drown at sea.

    We've not had a drowning at sea under Operation Sovereign Borders. I've been in this portfolio now for a couple of years, we've got every child out of detention, Labor put 8,000 people in detention and those same Left wing activists had nothing to say about Labor at the time. We've closed those 17 detention centres and we're cancelling visas of criminals at a record rate – the numbers are up by about 1,200 per cent.

    So Miranda, I will not be taking any lectures from the Left when it comes to keeping our country safe and secure and I think at the moment, as you are seeing with Bill Shorten, I mean they are a traditional tax and spend outfit – that's what Labor always does – and Labor's always soft on law and order crime – as we're seeing in Victoria – and they're pathetic and hopeless when it comes to border protection – we saw that in Rudd and Gillar. And when I listen to Bill Shorten on border protection, I think of a weakened, you know weak and pathetic Kevin Rudd because Shorten is basically of the same ilk as Kevin Rudd and that is just a recipe for the people smugglers rubbing their hands together thinking that they'll be back into business if Shorten is elected at the next election. So that's where we're at.

    MIRANDA DEVINE:

    Speaking of cancelling visas of criminals, what do you make of this decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to block the deportation that you had ordered of a violent Muslim Iraqi man who had come by boat, who pretended he was a gay Christian to avoid being deported? Your Department obviously didn't buy that story, but the AAT does.

    PETER DUTTON:

    Well Miranda there are lots of cases around at the moment in recent months where the AAT has taken a decision to overturn a decision of me or one of my delegates to cancel the visa and people can draw their own conclusions on that. I won't comment on individual cases because I may well be a decision maker in relation to some of these cases. There are circumstances where I can overturn the decision of the AAT….

    MIRANDA DEVINE:

    …so it goes back to you in the end, they don't have the final say?

    PETER DUTTON:

    In some cases it can come back to me. So look, people can have their day in court, but in the end, as we've said before, the visa cancellation numbers now are at about 3,400. It's the highest number since Federation and we're concentrating on people who are posing serious threats and we aren't going to be taken for a ride by people pretending to be someone that they're not, or pretending to be of a sexual orientation when they're not because they think that gives them a particular visa outcome.

    My job is to make sure that we have integrity in the migration system; that starts with securing our borders, it means cancelling visas of criminals and we'll continue to do that. I've cancelled more visas in the last 12 months of criminals here who have performed terrible, terrible crimes against Australians than Labor did in their entire six years in government.

    So we're going to continue to ramp that up because we want to welcome the good people, and the majority are good people, but the bad people; we are not going to tolerate their presence in our country and we're going to continue to work hard with the police and with the intelligence agencies to identify those people, particularly the child sex offenders – we've really ramped up the number of paedophiles, outlaw motorcycle gang members – that we've been able to cancel and despite the fact that Labor has opposed us in these measures, we are going to continue to power ahead.

    MIRANDA DEVINE:

    Incredible isn't it. Well good on you Peter Dutton and thanks for joining us.

    PETER DUTTON:

    Thanks Miranda, take care.

    [ends]

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    URL http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-0...africa/9615496


    Peter Dutton suggests South Africa misrepresenting Australia's white farmer stance to appease audience
    By political reporter Stephen Dziedzic
    Updated about 6 hours ago


    Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has escalated a diplomatic row with South Africa by suggesting its Foreign Minister may have deliberately misrepresented Australia's stance on white farmers in the nation.

    Last month, Mr Dutton stirred anger in Pretoria when he said white farmers were being targeted in South Africa, and indicated the Federal Government might offer refugee visas to those facing the threat of violence and persecution.

    Yesterday, the South African Government issued a statement declaring Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had written to her counterpart Lindiwe Sisulu to withdraw Mr Dutton's comments.

    But Ms Bishop said the letter simply reiterated Australia's humanitarian visa program was non-discriminatory, and Mr Dutton insisted Ms Bishop had not contradicted any of his statements.

    "It restates our position … I'm not sure how it can be interpreted the way that the South African Minister has interpreted it," Mr Dutton told Sky News.

    He also suggested Lindiwe Sisulu might have made the statement to placate a domestic political audience.

    "I'm not sure what domestic issues are at play in terms of the politics in South Africa that would bring this comment out, but it's not based on any factual statement by anyone in the Australian Government," Mr Dutton said.
    Dutton 'not speaking on behalf of Government'

    South Africa Department of International Relations and Cooperation spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya maintained Australia had sent clear signals Mr Dutton was not speaking on behalf of the Australian Government.

    "The Minister of Foreign Affairs has written to us to say [Australia's] immigration policy is based on [Australia's] immigration policy — not on what a member of Cabinet has said," Mr Mabaya told ABC News.

    "The letter says our relationship is very strong, and that South Africa knows our immigration policy, and that anything else that is not our immigration policy must not be taken into consideration.
    "And we are very happy with that."

    Mr Mabaya said Australia's High Commissioner to South Africa, Adam McCarthy, had also indicated Mr Dutton's comments did not represent Australia's position on immigration, and "therefore we should not take them [seriously]".

    The debate over violence against farmers in South Africa is racially charged and hugely sensitive. White farmers own the bulk of privately held-farms, and the South African Government has declared that it plans to seize land and redistribute it.

    Dutton 'wants to help people in need'

    Mr Dutton said his department was now examining some "pretty explicit" cases of farmers who had borne the brunt of violent crime.

    "You look at the detail of some of the cases that have already been sent in, it's unquestionably the case that there are some very difficult circumstances," he said.

    "People have been murdered, people have been assaulted on their own properties. That's been well documented.

    "I want to make sure we can help those people who are in need.
    "I believe we can look at some of those cases, and determine whether or not those cases meet our criteria, and if so, we'd offer places to people in that circumstance."

    Mr Mabaya conceded some white farmers had faced violent crime. But he denied they were targeted by criminals because of their race, or that they were facing political persecution.

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