Subjects: Healthcare of our police; Labor trashing border protection policies; 501 character cancellations.
EO&E...........................................................................................................................................
RAY HADLEY:
Going to a former copper now, the Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, g'day.
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah g'day Ray.
RAY HADLEY:
You know all about what I just spoke about?
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah mate; it really brings it home and I think a lot of people realise superficially the stress that police are under, the jobs that they have to go to and I don't think they have a full appreciation of the full detail of sitting down with a victim of crime, going to the scene of a shooting. These are images that stay with you forever, particularly where children are involved.
I think it's a great credit to you and to the Hadley family that you're able to turn this very unfortunate circumstance, that's had the appropriate outcome, into what will be good for broader society.
I was down at the AFP Headquarters in Canberra yesterday talking to some of the police down there about this very topic and we need to do a lot more for our police and firies and the rest, because they see things that most Australians could never stomach and these coppers are seeing it shift-in, shift-out and we need to provide as much support as we can.
RAY HADLEY:
Well I was heartened by the AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin after a tragedy that visited the AFP Headquarters in Canberra last weekend to confirm that while he thinks there's some good work being done, there's a lot more work still to be done.
PETER DUTTON:
There's no question about that and there's a stigma attached. Mental health is a condition no different to asthma or to a disease of any other nature and it just needs to be treated and it can be treated in a way that it hasn't been in the past.
So we need to reduce that stigma, but it's certainly still there within the police ranks and we need to try and address that. It can have dire consequences as you allude to where police have access to firearms and the rest of it and it's a very tough day for police family. There's a very collegiate nature to – whether it's people within the Defence Force or within policing – they're a very tight family and quite often they're literally under attack from different elements of society, judiciary, wherever it might be.
They need the support and they need some support from governments, from the media and, as I say mate, it's a great credit to you and to Daniel as well as he fights through his battles as well that we can turn some good out of it and I think that's a positive outcome.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. We haven't had a yarn for a while. I saw you in a picture this morning – arm in a sling. I knew you'd done some damage, I didn't know it was that serious. What happened?
PETER DUTTON:
Mate we had heavy winds up in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and a tree fell down over a fence, cut across the driveway. So I just grabbed a chainsaw out and cut that up and carted it away and then nailed the fence back up and reached awkwardly across the top of the wire to pull the timber top rail back in and it just went snap. So the bicep has separated from the bone and…so anyway, I had surgery on that and it's all just a slow recovery. So it’s not much fun getting old I've decided.
RAY HADLEY:
Get a handy man will you for goodness sake.
PETER DUTTON:
A few of my mates have said that.
RAY HADLEY:
Hire a hubby or something like that. Don't do it yourself. Right…
PETER DUTTON:
…definitely…
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. Back we go to politics. Labor has their National Conference this weekend. Bill Shorten's going to have his work cut out for him, starring down the Left. Now I think your best hope – and things are getting a bit desperate according to Newspoll – is for the Left to have its way. I don't know whether – now you've got Tanya Plibersek coming from the Left, edging towards the Right on this matter of people smugglers – It might make life a little bit easier, but if the Left have their way, it could be your best avenue to get re-elected as a government.
PETER DUTTON:
Look Ray, the Left won't have their way. The fact is that Plibersek and Albanese and others – the people on the Left that want to see people arriving freely and couldn't care less about Operation Sovereign Borders – and didn't see any problem with 50,000 people arriving last time – those people promised to Kevin Rudd and to the Conference and to the people of Australia that they would have the same policies as John Howard did. So the Left won't get their way. That's the reality of the Conference.
But Bill Shorten's demonstrated something more tangible than that. In the Parliament last week they demonstrated through their vote in the Senate, that they supported a Bill that would bring an end to offshore processing.
Offshore processing is one of the three limbs of Operation Sovereign Borders and these people who think that you can just stop boats on the water, turn them around and everything will be fine, it's a complete joke Ray. They don't have any understanding. Bill Shorten has never had a full security briefing on Operation Sovereign Borders and frankly he's just trying to get through the election.
But I mean we might talk about the case shortly of a fellow who's had numerous convictions; the fact is that that fellow could be kicked out by the Immigration Minister cancelling his visa, which is what I did in relation to that individual, but that person could come by boat and under Labor's policy of medical transfers, would be here and the Minister would be able to do nothing about it and that's how much of a joke their policy is.
RAY HADLEY:
Let's get to this two-doctor policy – and it's not just about kids – this is about everyone; men, women, children, all of them, men, women and children and they're saying they're going to go Skype them and say: oh yeah this person's got…he's got an ingrown toenail, I'll get him over here quick. Once they do that under the Labor policy, there's no redress for the Minister or the Department, is that correct?
PETER DUTTON:
That's right mate. Honestly there are thousands of doctors in Australia who are part of Doctors for Refugees and the rest of it and it doesn't even need to be a medical condition – the person can just make a complaint. The doctor out of Hobart or Canberra or wherever they are can Skype into Nauru and say: okay well you need to come to Australia for a medical assessment – it doesn't even need to be treatment – and if they get two doctors, there's really nothing that the Minister can do about that and as I say, even if the person has a criminal history, even if we know that they've been convicted of child sex offences, they can still come under Labor's policy and it would be a disaster.
You would basically say that everybody who is on Manus and Nauru, if Bill Shorten's elected, would be here within a matter of weeks. And it goes beyond that. If you get a new boat arrival tomorrow, under the Labor policy, it doesn't matter even if you haven't verified the identity of somebody, if they turn up and say: I've got a sore leg, then they get Skyped by the doctor: okay, come to Australia, nothing the Immigration Minister can do about that. So they're basically…I mean, that's actually a worse policy than what Kevin Rudd had.
RAY HADLEY:
Just quickly, I noticed one this morning that you and I have spoken about before. These are these people that will be transferred to the USA. Now there are some refusing at the moment from Nauru to go to the USA because they've been told there's no welfare, you've got to work and you're saying, from what I understand, that they sense there'll be a Labor government some time through next year and they're simply going to hold out until Bill Shorten says: okay, no US, back here you come.
PETER DUTTON:
That's exactly what's happening. I've never put a child on Nauru. We're down to 10 children because we've got the US deal. We've got 449 people in total who have gone to the US from both Manus and Nauru. There are no kids on Manus at all. Labor had put 8,000 children into detention, we're down to zero so it needs to be understood.
I know that it's out of people's minds at the moment because you aren't seeing the scenes of a thousand people a week being pulled off boats, but that is what will happen if Bill Shorten is elected prime minister and I think he's just got an air of arrogance. He thinks he's going to win the election and they'll just bluff their way through past the election. Plibersek and others will fold in a heartbeat at the first boat that turns up. So it would be a disaster because you get people drowning at sea again – and I might say; four of them are on their way to the US and the six that are left are part of difficult family groups.
So again, under Labor's policy, if you're one of those kids who's sick and you want to bring them to Australia, fair enough, but the aunts, the uncles, the mother, the father, all of those people come as well even though they haven't got any medical condition. Honestly the people smugglers would be rubbing their hands together Ray.
RAY HADLEY:
Back to the story you just touched on, Natasha Bita has it at The Courier Mail. An ice addict refugee from Iran has beaten a deportation order despite 25 convictions for crimes including stabbing, drug use and burglary. Now you as Minister said no. He's gone to the Admin Appeals Tribunal. They've said – and this is the remarkable thing – the member said: look, you can stay despite you being a significant risk of reoffending. Have we gone mad? This is Peter Taylor again, the AAT senior member who I've spoken about before.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ray, as we've said before, Ian Callinan the former High Court Justice is doing a review for Christian Porter. Christian Porter is a breath of fresh air as Attorney-General I've got to say and he is of the same opinion I am, that we have to have a proper system in place and the AAT is ripe for reform like you wouldn't believe. I hope that his recommendations, his investigations and his recommendations now will be implemented.
So we're doing work with Mr Callinan at the moment and it does need to change because again, we welcome people, we're a generous country, but if you come here and start selling drugs or abusing kids or assaulting women, I'm sorry you don't stay here. It's as simple as that.
The AAT and the courts need to back up public opinion on this according to the law of course, but I cancelled a record number of visas and it was with good reason when you look at these individual cases and it'll now be up to David Coleman, the Immigration Minister to decide whether he reviews this matter.
RAY HADLEY:
So he's got a chance to review?
PETER DUTTON:
Well there's the opportunity to appeal this now to court and that'll be up to Mr Coleman.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. Alright. Have a Merry Christmas.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks Ray to you too mate.
RAY HADLEY:
And a Happy New Year. Are you going to be up the coast at all?
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah. We'll take the kids down to the Gold Coast so I might catch up with you down there.
RAY HADLEY:
I'll be there from Christmas night with my youngest daughter and spending some time up there and I might even invite Singo to be part of the party and that'll liven things up immeasurably if you're still suffering pain from your bicep.
PETER DUTTON:
I'll block out the afternoon.
RAY HADLEY:
See you later. Thank you.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks mate. See ya.