Subjects: People smuggling venture from Sri Lanka; Operation Sovereign Borders, Labor Party factions; bail laws in Queensland.
EO&E......................................................
RAY HADLEY:
Of course, most Thursdays we try to speak to the Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. He's on line right now.
Minister good morning.
PETER DUTTON:
Good morning, Ray.
RAY HADLEY:
Now first up, 20 Sri Lankan asylum seekers – boat people – set sail for Australia, intercepted during the Federal election campaign.
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah look Ray, it's a very disturbing development. Without going into all of the details, it's not the only vessel that we're worried about. Obviously people thought there was going to be a change of government and people smugglers have been marketing this and we've mentioned it for a long period of time now, but we want to send a very clear message to people here, who might try and organise ventures or people offshore that the Government's settings haven't changed. The Prime Minister and I are absolutely resolute in making sure that we can never allow people to come here by boat and to safely turn them around or to return them back to their country of origin, wherever that is possible and that's what we've done on this occasion.
RAY HADLEY:
Well that's a bit troubling you say that it's not the only one that's perhaps on the radar. There's a report today, elsewhere, that one was expected to arrive from India, has been lost at sea, believed to have sunk. Is that report valid?
PETER DUTTON:
No, we don't believe that that's the case. There was a venture and some intelligence in relation to that, but we don't believe that has come to fruition, and that's the best I have in relation to that matter.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. Well given you've signalled it here, are we talking about other vessels on the high seas at the moment from that part of the world or from Asia?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ray, I just don't want to go into the detail, but obviously we've returned now 10 vessels, or people off 10 vessels, almost 200 people from Sri Lanka alone. The threat is still there. Obviously people smugglers, as we've constantly said, would try out a new government and whenever there's a change of minister, whenever there's a change of government, they will always try out the new government and when the Labor Party was first elected back in 2007, they tried them out pretty early on, they failed and the rest is history.
So I think they were in the process of doing exactly that on this occasion and we need to make sure that people hear the very clear message that if you attempt to come by boat, you won't come to this country.
The settings under the Morrison Government will not be softened. We still have the ability to return people and we've done that on this occasion – we're very grateful to the Sri Lankans for the support that they've provided to us – but there's a lot of intelligence, a lot of information around in relation to people smugglers, those that are willing to hop onto boats, all the rest of it.
It is a very dangerous period and I think it shouldn't come as any surprise, particularly to those people who thought that there was going to be a Labor government, that there would be a test early on.
RAY HADLEY:
Now given that we understand this vessel left after the election was called in the early part of this month, can we expect that now that the Labor Party didn't get put into government that those that were thinking about it will stop? Given that you've put these people on a plane and sent them straight back from whence they came?
PETER DUTTON:
Well that's my expectation. I think we'll just have a period now of cleaning up what was, I think, going to be a very messy period if Mr Shorten had of won. There's no question in my mind that these boats would have got through. So this threat, as we've always said, hasn't gone away. The people smugglers are still there, they just treat these men, women and children like commodities. They take the money and don't care whether they end up on the bottom of the ocean. We've been able to bring people in an orderly way, to settle them, to provide them with support, to get into jobs, educate their kids, but we're not going to be taken for fools and we aren't going back to the Labor days of allowing people smugglers to get back in control.
I think it's important too for Mr Albanese to be out there saying that he supports Operation Sovereign Borders. It was a Labor Party policy at the last election that they would abolish the key elements of Operation Sovereign Borders. I do think it's important for the Labor Party to signal early that they are now going to abandon their policy that they took to the election. The Government is going to repeal the Medivac Bill if we're able to get the numbers in Parliament – so we need the Labor Party for that because that is also a green light for people to come to our country from Manus and Nauru – and again that would send the wrong signal to the people smugglers who are marketing Australia as an outcome and they are there, working away, trying to put people on boats right now.
RAY HADLEY:
Well given that Anthony Albanese, the now Leader said at a Labor Party conference I think three or four years ago, if people were in a boat including families and children, I myself couldn't turn that around. It's hard to imagine they'll support any legislation in supporting Operation Sovereign Borders, this time given he's the Leader.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ray, it's true to say that there's nobody weaker on boats in the Labor Party than Anthony Albanese. Now, our Government's been able to get all of the kids out of detention, we've stopped people drowning at sea, we've brought people in, including the 12,000 from Syria because we screened appropriately, we've brought people in the right way and we can run the migration program much more successfully than Labor ever can. The people smugglers know that and I think the majority of the Australian public know that.
The Government was elected, has been elected at subsequent elections, with a mandate I think for strong border protection policies. Mr Albanese wouldn't need to spend much time in Queensland to know that people want our borders secure, and you can't blink in the face of this adversity, you need to send a very clear message and I think it would be helpful for the Labor Party to come out to say that they made a mistake at the last election in their policy, which would have weakened our borders and it's now time for Mr Albanese to step up and say whether he supports and whether he would vote for our legislation in Parliament – that is to abolish the Medivac Bill and to support Operation Sovereign Borders in its entirety.
RAY HADLEY:
What does Kristina Keneally hold over the Labor Party officialdom? This is a woman who led the New South Wales Labor Party to just about its worst defeat since Federation. Failed in Bennelong against John Alexander; was trotted out in the final two weeks of the campaign by Bill Shorten as some sort of attack weapon against you and others, with no answers just attack, attack, and attack. The track record is abysmal. Anthony Albanese says it's a captain's pick. Then Ed Husic who I think you have some regard for, falls on the sword and says no, I'll make way for my dear friend Kristina – obviously he'll be rewarded as is the case with every political party down the track.
But what is it? What's so captivating about Kristina Keneally that Anthony Albanese must have her as part of his team?
PETER DUTTON:
Well it escapes me I've got to say Ray. I can't find anything endearing to say. I don't know what is going on in the Labor Party. They've got obviously a lot of factional issues – so the fact that Mr Shorten's going to be back on the frontbench means that he's just a stalking horse, believes that Albanese won't last would be my judgment – so if you've got the factions dictating to people like Shayne Neumann, my opposite number from Queensland, he's going to be on the frontbench, but not somebody like Ed Husic, you know that not is all well within the Labor Party.
Ed Husic is somebody I've got a lot of regard for. I disagree with him on most policy matters, but I think he's a decent person and the fact for Mr Albanese to punt him as part of some factional play to get Kristina Keneally in – I presume it's something to do with the New South Wales right, the notorious New South Wales right, some deal that they've stitched up – but this gives people an insight into what goes on in the Labor Party, the strength of the union movement, CFMEU pulling strings behind the scenes and the rest and ultimately you end up with Anthony Albanese.
RAY HADLEY:
I note that the shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh – I think you called him a weird cat or a weird dude, or something I can't remember – but he's gone from the frontbench altogether so hopefully we won't see him on Sky News any time in the foreseeable future.
PETER DUTTON:
No, he can put the robes back on and go back to his Caesar type behaviour. He's a very, very odd fellow.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. Just in Queensland and as a former copper you'd be across this one. We've got a female Senior Constable allegedly choked and bitten by a fellow called Hylton King. He's denied bail on Monday. His four co-accused get bail. He appears before a Magistrate yesterday and all of a sudden he's given bail. They're all from New Zealand. They're here I suspect living as opposed to visiting and yet he gets bail.
I mean you and I spoke about the bail that's presented to us in New South Wales and Queensland all the time. This is another bizarre, bizarre, bizarre case.
PETER DUTTON:
Ray, I just think there needs to be a lot more scrutiny of the Magistrates that are appointed by state governments. It's not a transparent process and I think it's a real failing in the system and ultimately these decisions are made by people that are appointed by the Government of the day. In Queensland we've only had Liberal National government for a handful of years over the last 30 years and you've had a lot of people who are former civil libertarians, former defence lawyers who are appointed to the bench. I'm sure there are some very good people within their ranks, but there are others that seem always to side with the offender and not the victim.
If you've got somebody who has attempted to choke out a young policewoman – who I understand having spoken to Ian Leavers the other day, is just back from maternity leave or has young children – it's just shameful and I don't believe how in that circumstance we can allow that person to be back out on the streets. What are the circumstances?
These people aren't, I don't believe, above criticism or above scrutiny and we should have a closer look at the people who are being appointed and the government of the day – Annastacia Palaszczuk or the Trad Government here – should explain why these people are being appointed as Magistrates when they have this revolving door because they're back out committing crime. We're seeing it in Victoria, certainly seeing it in New South Wales and now the case in Queensland as well.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. Thanks for your time. We'll talk again next week.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks Ray.
[ends]