Subjects: Illegal Maritime Arrivals; 501 visa cancellations; citizenship; federal politics.

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

JOHN LAWS:          

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton joins me on the line. Minister good morning and welcome to the programme again.

PETER DUTTON: 

Morning Lawsy, good to be back.

JOHN LAWS:          

Okay good to talk to you. What prompted this crackdown Peter?

PETER DUTTON: 

Well I think we just got to the point John where we tried to work with these people as closely as we could. We put options to them to return back to Nauru or back to Manus where they've come from or indeed back to their country of origin. They refused that and we found that in the cases that we're dealing with – so 400 in total, we're just talking about the first 60 or 70 now – but 400 people in total who have come from Manus or Nauru for medical assistance; the condition of them coming here was that, okay the doctor said they needed to come here for medical assistance, but that you would return, agree to return back to Nauru or Manus when the medical support had been provided.

What happened was the lawyers worked with many of these people, they injuncted us in the courts, preventing us from returning these people back to Nauru or Manus and it's costing the taxpayers literally millions and millions of dollars a year and we just got to the point where it was unacceptable. I'm responsible for spending taxpayers' money and in good conscience I couldn't say that we were doing the right and that's why we've clamped down.

JOHN LAWS:          

I believe there's about 70 men that your Department has placed on final departure bridging visas. Now what the hell does that mean?

PETER DUTTON: 

Well it means that they don't any longer get Government assistance. So people will know pensioners for example get a supplement each week or each fortnight to help them toward their rent. So they need to pick up the balance of the rent that they pay if they're in a rental property and the assistance provided to these people includes accommodation – so that is the rent paid for in full – they're out in the community and we've said no that we don't think it's acceptable that people are getting that level of assistance.

So they go onto a bridging visa where they do have work rights, so they can work and we stopped the welfare payments that were going. We still provide support through Medicare and if they've got kids of school age then the ability to go to school. So we provide assistance in that regard and I think we're generous in that sense, but as I say we're not going to be taken for a ride and we're not going to allow taxpayers to be taken for a ride.

Don't forget that these people are part of the 50,000 people who came on the 800 boats when Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard were in control and we've not had a successful boat now in well over 1,000 days.

So we've been able to stop the drownings at sea, we've got all the kids out of detention, but what's been amazing in the last 24 hours to be honest is that Bill Shorten's come out to say that he disagrees with what we're doing. He thinks that they should be staying here and get the full government assistance and that somehow they're going to move something in Parliament next week with the Greens, which I think would stagger most Australians that Mr Shorten would take such a view.

JOHN LAWS:          

I'm surprised I've got to say. I really am surprised. If they work and support themselves, are they allowed to stay then or will you deport them regardless?

PETER DUTTON: 

No they're still obliged to go John. So we've been very clear in saying that if you've sought to come by boat you won't settle here in our country.

We have a very compassionate refugee intake each year, but we do it the right way – that is we bring people on planes after we've done the security checks, the health checks, we can verify their stories and their identities and people turning up on boats, having disposed of their identity cards or refusing to say in some cases why they're owed protection, those days are gone.

The difficulty is that whilst this issue's out of people's minds, because the boats aren't turning up each day, the reality is that the people smugglers are still there in Indonesia and Sri Lanka and Vietnam and they would get back into business tomorrow if they were given the opportunity.

So that's why I think it's alarming to hear Mr Shorten's comments because that really gives a green light to people smugglers to say, 'ah ha, we found a way through this ring of steel, you can go to Australia for medical assistance and then you'll stay there.' It's a bad message and that's why the Government's been very clear in saying that once they've been given the medical assistance then they are required to go back.

It's worth pointing out too John that in many of the cases of the 400, it wasn't actually that person that required medical assistance; they've come here as support for a family member, they haven't been ill themselves and even in those cases the lawyers have taken action in the High Court to prevent us from sending those people back. So I just think we've already…the 50,000 and 800 boats has already cost this country $14 billion and it's still costing us almost $2 billion a year to clean up this mess and I want it to come to an end as quickly as possible.

JOHN LAWS:          

They are really literally rorting the system, aren't they? If they send a friend along as a supposed carer and then the carer stays as well, I mean it's a rort, an out and out rort.

PETER DUTTON: 

It is and we've brought it to an end and sadly, the reality is, that some people were harming themselves in an effort to get to Australia and that's been the reality. When I stopped the carers from coming or only provided one support member per patient to come, then really we've seen a massive reduction in the number of self-harms as well and medical incidents and that stream of people coming has really dried up.

But in the interim there are 400 people who are here at the moment and these single males, many of them from Iran for example – a country that says if these people don't want to go back voluntarily they won't take them back, so they won't issue travel documents – and this is the legacy that we're dealing with.

If the boats started again tomorrow, well detention centres would reopen, the chaotic scenes you would see at sea – it seems to me that Bill Shorten hasn't learnt any lesson at all from Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard's mistakes and it would be a disaster for this country if the boats recommenced because as we know 1,200 people drowned at sea and 8,000 children were put into detention.

JOHN LAWS:          

It was a real mess the boat thing. I mean how could anybody allow that to happen again?

PETER DUTTON: 

Well particularly when you've got the advice and it's very clear to me John the advice and the intelligence that you receive that these people smugglers haven't gone away. They're organised criminals, they're trading in drugs and gun parts and prostitutes and the rest of it. They're unsavoury characters obviously and the people smuggling – that is just putting people on boats – is just another business line for them and so they go dormant in this area when the government clamps down and they ramp up in the other area of their business.

So if they think that there's a new Australian Government and that the prime minister, if it was to be Bill Shorten, after the election was going weak, well, I can tell you they'd have thousands of people lined up at docks ready to go – and had the 31 boats got through that we've turned back over the last three years, it's very clear to me on all of the advice that there would have been thousands of people who followed and again that tragedy would still be playing out – as we're seeing in the Mediterranean, this problem's not going away.

JOHN LAWS:          

Yeah, terrible there, terrible there. I mean they're drowning in the Mediterranean – they're getting onto boats that don't float.

PETER DUTTON: 

And that was the experience here. I mean people were drowning. As we say, 1,200 that we knew of drowned on Labor's watch and why they would want to return to those days…

They're talking about a stunt in Parliament next week with the Greens; the Labor Party joining up with the Greens to try and move some motion to stop us from taking this free housing away and stopping the welfare support to these people, which as I say is just quite unbelievable, but no doubt Mr Shorten can explain their logic to it, but it is a worrying step because Labor had tried to make us believe up until now that their policy was the same as the Liberal Party and clearly it's not.

JOHN LAWS:          

What is the status of our deal with America in regards to resettling refugees from Nauru and Manus?

PETER DUTTON: 

Well the deal is around 1,200 people or so John. So the US has agreed to take people. They've been screening and their programme year – that is their new year if you like of taking people into their refugee programme – starts on 1 October. So we hope to have people moved as quickly as possible because again I mean this Government didn't put people on Manus or Nauru, but our job is to clean the mess up and get them off.

So when you have people like the Iranians who won't go back, refuse to go back and their government refuses to allow them back, then you need to try and find third country settlements. Malcolm Turnbull made this arrangement with President Obama and President Trump is honouring it and we're very appreciative of that. So we will have those people moving and as quickly as possible, but most likely not until October at the earliest.

JOHN LAWS:          

Peter what's your take on this dual citizenship garbage?

PETER DUTTON: 

I just think John when you've got people who can't afford to turn on their heaters or air conditioners this summer that people are worrying – why are we concerned with these issues when there are more important issues to deal with like that? So it's a technicality.

Barnaby Joyce was born here in Australia, he is loyal to our country, the thought that he would be some spy or double agent if that was the import I mean he hasn't been a very good one if that's been his role.

So I just think hopefully the court deals with it as quickly as possible and it allows us to get back to business because there's a lot of good that the Government's doing. Yes, we're frustrated by the Senate and Labor's playing games there with the Greens, but there's a lot that we're getting through and the success that we've had on national security, I mean those guys almost got onto that plane a few weeks ago with a bomb so…

JOHN LAWS:          

…yes almost.

PETER DUTTON: 

So, very, very close. So all of that good work that we're doing behind the scenes is overshadowed by the theatre of the Senate and the citizenship issues. So I think we just need to move on from that.

As the Prime Minister demonstrates, I mean today he's doing more and this week he's doing more with energy companies and trying to reduce the power prices and you get crazy situations like in Victoria where state governments are adopting these policies that are going to drive up the prices of electricity, so we're trying to counter that as well. So it's a distraction from that, but hopefully it's dealt with quickly and we can all get back to the main business.

JOHN LAWS:          

Yep well it'd be good if we could Peter. Thank you very much for your time yet again. I've enjoyed talking to you and I'm sure we'll get to talk again.

PETER DUTTON: 

Likewise Lawsy. Thanks mate, take care.

[ends]