CHRIS KENNY:
I'm joined on the line now by the Federal Minister for Home Affairs, the Immigration Minister, but now heading up this super Department of Home Affairs. His name of course is Peter Dutton and thanks for joining us Peter. Happy New Year to you.
PETER DUTTON:
Happy New Year Chris. Nice to be on the show.
CHRIS KENNY:
Look, I wanted to talk to you about Federal Government involvement in this Melbourne situation because we've had your own Liberal MPs – Jason Wood no less of course who you know has a policing background – and he was suggesting that of course the prime responsibility here is the Victorian Police and the Victorian Government, but he'd like to see more AFP – Australian Federal Police – involvement, trying to help them combat these African youth crime gangs.
Is there some merit in that idea? Or are you looking at it?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Chris, obviously I think Jason, like any Victorian – whether you're a Member of Parliament or not – I think people are just bemused at the moment in Victoria when you look at the political correctness that's taken hold, you look at some of the joke sentences that are being handed down; there's no deterrents there at the moment and the State Government's wrapped the police force up in this politically correct conversation, which I think they're trying to break out of and they're trying to do the right thing, but I think the State Government's really been caught flat-footed.
So you're right, we need to do whatever we can to encourage the Premier to pass laws around bail, to put deterrents in place and then the Federal Government can provide whatever support we can.
There's a lot that we've already done. Obviously in the Immigration and Border Protection portfolio – cancelled a number of visas – we're looking at a number of other cases at the moment, but when the police are given direction from the Premier and from the State Government down there, which is really a go-soft message, it's unacceptable.
I think the Victorian public are really outraged by some of the goings on. I mean people don't see this in New South Wales and Queensland, but the reality is people are scared to go out to restaurants of a night time because they're followed home by these gangs, home invasions and cars are stolen and we just need to call it for what it is. Of course it's African gang violence. It's not the whole community. There are many good people within the community that would condemn this action as strongly as you and I would, but…
CHRIS KENNY:
…and have done so…
PETER DUTTON:
…and have done so, and to their credit and we need to weed out the people who have done the wrong thing, deport them where we can, but where they're Australian citizens, we need to deal with them according to the law and there's a lot of work to do down there and I think Jason Wood and others, to their great credit, have really been applying pressure to the Andrews Government to call them out for this nonsense. We need to deal with it. It's a law and order issue. It's not happening in New South Wales and Queensland.
I've said for a long time we need to respect the judiciary, but in the end, the magistrates at a state level are appointed by the State Premiers and if they're appointing civil libertarians and people that won't put in place proper deterrents, well, you can expect the sort of outcomes that we've seen in Victoria.
CHRIS KENNY:
Are there issues here for your immigration programme? I know some of these gang members in Melbourne have been refugee arrivals; others are Australian-born of course. Do you have any concerns about lack of integration in the Sudanese community? Do you have any concerns that people coming into this country are not having their obligations and responsibilities made clear to them?
PETER DUTTON:
Well I think the vast majority do Chris, but obviously we're looking at those at the moment who don't and I've been very clear about this; I mean if people want to come here, particularly if they're coming out of a war-torn area or an area of desperate poverty, Australia is an opportunity for them that will never come their way again. We have a generous welfare system and health system and education, housing, all the rest of it, but this is a two-way street and if people aren't prepared to integrate, if they aren't prepared to send their kids to school, if they have 10 and 12 year old kids wandering the street at night committing these offences, then frankly they don't belong in Australian society.
This is why I was just gobsmacked frankly when Bill Shorten refused to, in fact voted against our legislation in the Senate, that said people couldn't become Australian citizens unless they demonstrated the fact that they had integrated, that they were abiding by the law and that they were adhering to Australian culture.
This is nothing more than any other country asks of new arrivals and I don't see why Mr Shorten was so opposed to it and I think as a Victorian, frankly, he should know firsthand why this is important and there's I think a long way to run in this debate, but the short answer is that if people haven't integrated, if they're not abiding by our laws, they don't adhere to our culture, then they're not welcome here.
CHRIS KENNY:
There is so much pathetic pussyfooting around on this issue. I noticed on the ABC today they're talking about how all Sudanese are sadly tarred with the brush of these crimes and that's because too many people in the media and politics are calling it out, yet there are Sudanese leaders, many responsible and significant Sudanese leaders have called this out.
They recognise they have an African youth gang problem and you have to actually be able to identify what it is if you're going to tackle it. If there are problems unfortunately occurring for the rest of the Sudanese community, surely it's not the police or politicians calling out the problem, or indeed Sudanese community leaders calling out the problem, the issue is created by those who are breaking the law.
PETER DUTTON:
Of course it is Chris and people need to call it out.
I think the public is sick of the political correctness and the sensitised versions of statements and people soft-peddling on this stuff. You need to be honest and if the truth is inconvenient here for the Victorian Government, well so be it. It's an issue of their making and as I say, you don't get these problems in New South Wales and Queensland where you have ethnic communities settling there.
There's a problem in Victoria. It's driven by the fact that I think the State Government there has tried to tie at least one hand behind the back of the police down there and…
CHRIS KENNY:
...but the police don't have a Police Commissioner either. Isn't he still on stress leave?
PETER DUTTON:
Well he's on leave and they've got an Acting Commissioner who I think is a great guy, in Shane Patton. I've spent some time with him and I think he's doing his best, but when he's got the hand above him that's pressing down, that's the difficulty.
If you've got a court system or a watch house that's just releasing people once they come in, they're back out committing crimes a few hours later, people are laughing at that system and the sad part about it is that the victims in Victoria, the people that have been assaulted, violently assaulted, people that have had their cars stolen or their houses broken into, they don't find it so funny and I think people need to respect the law, they need to adhere to the law and that starts with a culture that needs to be driven by the government.
In the end, the police or any government agency will follow the lead of their elected representatives and the Premier and the Cabinet in Victoria have an enormous amount to answer for. They're the ones that need to make the changes so that the laws are in place that the police can implement and those offenders that are laughing at the system now are pulled into line. That's how they're going to fix the mess up in Victoria and they need to start sooner than later.
CHRIS KENNY:
Well when you talk about a lenient system in Victoria, we've had that revealed again today when of course the 15 year old boy who's facing charges – including two counts of attempted murder and six counts of reckless conduct endangering life – he's been let out on bail. This is a 15 year old who was screaming around in a car – there's video footage available online today – screaming around in a car on Flinders Street in Melbourne on Grand Final Day in a horrendously frightening vehicular behaviour – anyone who's seeing it would have been frightened – incredibly brave intervention by some individuals who tried to disable the car by throwing bikes underneath it, but this is a very serious offence.
There's suggestions there's evidence that this 15 year old actually looked up online to try and find out about military and police sites before conducting this activity. He's still facing these charges, yet he's out on bail.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Chris you have to ask yourself, on similar facts, would that person with those allegations against him have been granted bail in other jurisdictions? So, in New South Wales or Queensland would the magistrate or judge have held that person in custody?
CHRIS KENNY:
You think so?
PETER DUTTON:
Well that's my judgement on the facts that I know and again, there are some very good magistrates and judges out there. It's right that they're independent, but they are not above public scrutiny and I get criticised all the time for making comments about some of the decisions that you see, which I think are pathetically weak and you get some judges and magistrates who hand down strong messages of deterrents.
If you've got people that are being let out on bail on serious offences and there are circumstances where they're back out committing similar offences in a matter of hours, it's no wonder the police really are left scratching their head because if people don't have a deterrent, if there's not something in place which says to people that there is a consequence for your actions, well of course people will push it to the limit.
I just think Victorians are sick of it. As I say it's a great credit of Jason Wood and others in Victoria, they've really been calling this out for what it is. It's a failing of Daniel Andrews. It needs to be fixed and I see some commentary in the press yesterday and today, even Labor MPs down there believe that this is a huge problem for the Victorian Government. It's a problem of their making. They need to resolve it, but they need to do it quickly before more people are hurt.
CHRIS KENNY:
I'm speaking with the Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Peter just before we let you go, an update on the terror issue in Australia. We've seen an update, additional charges laid against a man in New South Wales who's allegedly looking to attack police with a knife, was allegedly looking to make a martyr of himself and so those charges have been updated today. The New South Wales Police have announced that.
At the same time we read that New York City is putting in 1,500 bollards across New York City to try and protect against vehicle attacks. I know the Federal Government is working with State and Local Government authorities across this country to put in additional bollards and restrict vehicle movement around our cities. It's a terribly worrisome way to start the New Year when we're looking at these sorts of measures being required to prevent further terror attacks in our country.
PETER DUTTON:
You're right Chris, it's a worrying time and particularly for families as they're on holidays with their kids or returning to work, they want to know that the Government's doing everything possible to keep them safe and we are.
Great credit to the New South Wales Police who have charged this 26 year old male for an incident that allegedly occurred in June of last year and there's a lot of work that goes on, as I've said to you on your network before, a lot of work that goes on 24/7. Our officers within ASIO and the Australian Federal Police are working very closely with their state counterparts, obviously looking at a number of individuals. They've been able to thwart some 14 or 15 attempts now and we're seeing it play out in other Western democracies as well.
So there's a lot of intelligence that we've been sharing with the United States and they've obviously been looking at the use of vehicles in Europe, but here as well where those vehicles have been used as weapons, and we're all seeking to learn from each other. But to the Prime Minister's credit, last year he launched this engagement with business to try and look at places where vehicles could mount footpaths or come into crowded places and cause death or serious damage there. So there's a lot that we're doing across or in concert with the private sector as well.
But the whole idea of the Home Affairs portfolio is that we can pull all of those resources together and give ourselves the best chance of defeating these lunatics who would seek to do us harm.
CHRIS KENNY:
Peter Dutton, I really do appreciate you giving us all this time on these deadly serious issues, but if you can forgive me one cheeky question to finish on. Are you pleased that your Prime Minister…
PETER DUTTON:
…can't be an interview without that...
CHRIS KENNY:
…without the cheeky question, yeah.
Are you pleased that your Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has thrown more fuel onto the fire of the Republican debate?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, I think if you have a look at what Malcolm had to say, it's nothing different than what he's said in previous years Chris. I think the public…I mean I'm a Monarchist, I declare that, so I guess I've got a particular slant on this debate. I think we're well-served by the system of government that we've got at the moment.
Our Government's focused on two very important issues: that is the issue of national security, the issue that we've just spoken about, but also the economy. The economy is going well. We've got good signs over the next 12 months or so and I think families and small businesses want to see us concentrating on those important issues, as the Prime Minister's pointed out, and that'll be the Government's focus over the next 12 months.
CHRIS KENNY:
Indeed. Thanks very much for joining us Peter and all the best for 2018.
PETER DUTTON:
Pleasure Chris. To you too mate. Take care.
[ends]
