Subjects: Same-sex marriage; deadline for Illegal Maritime Arrivals to lodge protection claims.
E&EO…………………………………………………………………………………………..
RAY HADLEY:
Minister good morning.
PETER DUTTON:
Good morning Ray. How are you?
RAY HADLEY:
Not bad. You attended this function for The Australian Financial Review Power List for 2017 and you made some statements about the yes vote, which you're entitled to make, despite the fact that you'll be, I believe, voting no. You say the yes vote will probably win.
PETER DUTTON:
Well I've already voted no and I'd encourage people to do the same, but it's a democratic process. Millions of Australians are going to have their say and over 10 million have already done that. So that's a good process.
I was asked about what I thought the outcome would be and my judgement, speaking to people, seeing the reports in the media, just my sense of where the debate is at, is that the yes vote will get up. But I think the most important message is for people, regardless of how they're going to vote, to get their ballots back in and to do it quickly because it's an important process. It's an important social change if it's to happen or significant social change and people should have their say one way or the other.
RAY HADLEY:
Just say that you are right and the yes vote is carried and the Prime Minister indicated they'll go to Parliament immediately and do something about it; the comments that have been made by the former Prime Minister John Howard, most notably, and to a lesser extent Tony Abbott, are you concerned about what will follow in relation to the inference that there'll be pressure put on people to partake in same-sex marriages either as celebrants, as ministers or people supplying cakes, flowers and the rest of it?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ray, I do have concerns about the religious protections and I share some of John Howard's concerns and I've spoken with him about them.
So there's a process that will follow if there is to be a yes vote – and let's wait and see what the outcome is – but if there is a yes vote, then there will be a bill before the Parliament and my argument – others have argued that there should be adequate protections in there, people are worried about this Safe Schools agenda, they're worried about other aspects that flow and I guess that's our job in Parliament to try and put those protections in place. It's difficult because you've got the Greens and the Labor Party who control the Senate and we've only got a one seat majority in the Lower House, but we do need adequate protections and I think people would expect that from the Parliament.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. Have you caught up with the comments that were made by the Attorney-General George Brandis QC in relation to those in Government making comments about judiciary?
PETER DUTTON:
I did see some reporting whilst I was away of that, but I think Senator Brandis made some comments yesterday that they weren't targeted toward any particular individual.
RAY HADLEY:
Yes I saw that on Sky News. I just wonder how many other Ministers of the Crown have been critical of the judiciary apart from yourself on this programme and in other areas?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ray, if George was being critical of me I'm sure he would have had something to say to my face. It's not an issue that he's ever raised with me, not a concern he's ever put to me, so I can only assume that the other speech, as he said yesterday, was not targeted toward me.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay well you're a bit more forgiving than I can be, but let me just say this to you; this is how I view Mr Brandis QC…and you're a poor old ex-copper, I'm a broken-down choir boy and it appears to me that the legal fraternity look after their own.
He was addressing lawyers of course and those of the same ilk and I think, to a certain extent, Mr Brandis QC was doing what a lot of lawyers do – not all of them, but a lot of them – they look down their noses at the, you know, the swill, those who were coppers, those who did year 12 but didn't go on to do university, the sort of people that I represent and you represent and I think was elitist, I think it was boring and boorish and when we stop talking about the fact that in your home state today the community is outraged that a killer of a poor little boy on the Gold Coast can walk out of jail in less than three years, everyone should be talking about it, not just Peter Dutton and Ray Hadley, but Mr Brandis in fact.
PETER DUTTON:
Well the vast majority of people are talking about it Ray and that's the reality. Look, I've made the point on your show before, you've made the point many times: nobody is above the law – not broadcasters, not politicians, not judges – and there is a community standard that's expected here and the community expects their lawmakers to put in place the right laws that capture these people and they expect the judiciary to punish people that commit offences against Australians that breach those laws. Where they're not adequate, where the laws are not adequate, then those of us who are elected to Parliament are rightly criticised by the public and people can vote us in or out. Where the judiciary get it wrong or where the public has a view that the judiciary's got it wrong, people shouldn't cower and shouldn't be belted into submission. We're in a country where we have freedom of speech and we'll continue to express…
RAY HADLEY:
…oh not necessarily on the Southern Cross network at the moment Minister, I can assure you of that…
PETER DUTTON:
Well that's the most ridiculous situation I've seen Ray and hopefully they sort that nonsense out sooner than later because the listeners see through all of this politically correct nonsense and I honestly believe that if we don't speak up then we won't get changes in these standards. It is important for the judiciary to hear from the public and to hear from elected representatives. The separation of powers, all of that's important, but they need to acknowledge that the public has a particular view and in our country, in a democracy like ours, the silent majority should prevail.
RAY HADLEY:
Well it's funny – and they're probably turning me off as I speak – but it's funny you should mention that because it all started with a fellow accused of most serious crimes in a fatal car crash being given his licence back by a magistrate and I commented I couldn't quite believe what was happening. The magistrate justified it in his court documents by saying he couldn't take the matters of fact into account. But I have great reservations about a bloke involved in a fatal accident who have the police taking his licence off him, given his licence back by the judiciary and that's where it all started and all of a sudden it's a legal battle that I can't talk about when in fact in every newspaper, in every radio report and every TV report today, somewhere across the country, we'll talk about a court case that's being dealt with either before, during or after the fact.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ray as I say, I just think nobody in this country is above public scrutiny. People have their say and I don't care whether you're an appointed official, whether you're an elected official; we serve the people in this country and if we lose sight of that or any judicial officer or elected official loses sight of that, then the public reacts accordingly and that's how it should be.
RAY HADLEY:
By the way, you've just been censored. They just cut you off when we started talking about it. So they've gone again. I've got a board full of listeners from those regions, including in Queensland and New South Wales and South Australia, who've just told me that we've just been cut again so they've got a few questions to answer themselves I would think.
Now, let's go back to what we were talking about in relation to your position in Government, and this is another thing; I mean you've been elevated to a very senior position in this Government: Immigration and Border Protection Minister and down the track even higher honours will come your way. I see this as again an attempt by the left-wing media – and some within your own Party to slight you – that you know, oh, he's only an old copper, how would we ever aspire to be either the leader of the country in the future or in a very senior position in a Turnbull Government as you occupy now.
PETER DUTTON:
But Ray all you can do is stare those nay-sayers down. It's been something that the Labor Party's thrown at me in Question Time over the years; you know put away the phonebook, where's your paper bag? I mean all of these things that…all I can say to you mate is it provides fuel to me to keep going and makes me more determined to achieve the things that we want to do. If they want to stare that down or belittle, well, as I say, it just makes you more energetic in the work we're doing with cancelling of visas and stopping boats and all of that. I think its good work, I think it's supported by the majority of people and that's what should drive you.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. We've got a deadline for the 7,500 Illegal Maritime Arrivals – the IMAs as they're called – in the community to lodge an application for protection. It's now closed. That deadline was back on October 1. Of the 7,500, can you reveal to my listeners how many failed to lodge the application as required?
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah Ray, well I can reveal for the first time today that we've reduced that number from 7,500 down to 71. So there are 71 people who are refusing to lodge an application for protection and you'll remember in May we put in place a deadline because out of the 50,000 people who came on the 800 boats, there was still 7,500 people who refused to provide documentation, refused to provide information about their protection claim – they're on welfare benefits, which is costing taxpayers a quarter of a billion dollars a year – and they're refusing to provide any information.
I said enough's enough, you provide the information by the 1st of October or all benefits are cut off.
We've got that number down remarkably to 71. Labor said it couldn't be done. All the civil libertarians went crazy because we were forcing people to provide information and this means that we can get their applications processed. If they're found not to be refugees then we can start deportation of people as quickly as possible.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. So what happens next process to the 7,429 who have lodged the application and therefore the other 71 who haven't, what happens to those two sets of people?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, to the 71, automatically from now on they're cut off from receiving government benefits. So they're out in the community. We've been very clear about that and they don't receive welfare payments etc.
For the people that have lodged their papers, I've instructed the Department to put extra resources into processing those claims. We'll go through and process those claims and once we've done that we meet our international obligations. Where people have been found not to be a refugee after their lodgement has been assessed then we can start deporting people from Australia.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. As always, thanks for your time.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks Ray. See you mate.
[ends]
