Subjects: National security; Turkey's military action in Syria; returning foreign fighters; NDIS; Labor's Medivac Law.
EO&E...........................................................................................................................................
PETER DUTTON:
I've never seen anything like this before and when you speak to the Labor members, neither have they. This is unprecedented and I think it needs to be dealt with by Anthony Albanese.
It's clear that Kristina Keneally is running the show at the moment, not Anthony Albanese, and he needs to step up and he needs to say to Kristina Keneally that she can't go out and make these brash decisions on national security matters. When you have a bipartisan committee; they come up with recommendations, there's an agreement in place and then for her to renege on that, I think is just without precedent.
I think it's left the Labor members of the Committee and on the frontbench of the Labor Party otherwise completely bamboozled. It's not the first time we've seen all sorts of policy decisions made by Kristina Keneally which are at odds with the Labor Party and I think Mr Albanese needs to explain himself.
QUESTION:
What do you think of news overnight that Turkey has agreed to a short ceasefire in north-east Syria?
PETER DUTTON:
Well I hope that like every observer of this that there can be peace and people can return back to their villages. We know that in the original Syrian conflict there are about five million people who were displaced, so this has always been a very difficult part of the world – we know that – and I hope that conflict can come to an end as soon as possible.
QUESTION:
While this short ceasefire is in place, will Australian officials work to get any of the Australian women or children out of the refugee camps?
PETER DUTTON:
No, the advice is consistent to us, and that is that there's not an opportunity given the danger there at the moment. We've been able to bring back some orphans, as you know, but we're not in a position where we're able to go into those camps; and to be very clear about the fact that it's a tragedy that the parents, mothers and fathers, have made a decision to take children into a theatre of war, but we've been very clear we're not going to put Australian Defence, Foreign Affairs, or Home Affairs personnel or other agency staff at risk.
It's a very difficult situation, but if you enter into a war zone, then particularly if you're going to fight for ISIL or be part of Daesh, then you know that there is a very serious consequence.
I made all of these points at the time when people were romanticised or looking at going across to the call of ISIL, and there are serious consequences. Australians have already died in that theatre of war, over 100, and they've done that because they've been fighting in the name of an evil organisation. Tthere are consequences and we've been very clear about those.
QUESTION:
The children didn't decide to go and fight over there obviously in Syria, so can you bring them home by themselves?
PETER DUTTON:
We can look at individual cases as we've said in the past, but we're not going to put Australian personnel – not Defence personnel, not personnel from my Department, not DFAT personnel – in harm's way. We'll look at the situation, but at the moment we can't pretend that we have an ability to know what is going on in the area where we just don't have any personnel or ability to have sight of what is a very dangerous situation, but one where people have made a decision to place themselves.
QUESTION:
Donald Trump says the Turkish President needed some tough love in order to reach that deal. What do you make of the US President's approach?
PETER DUTTON:
Well I think the President, as I said the other day, like any of his predecessors and I suspect his successors as well, will always be damned if they've got troops in a theatre of war and damned if they don't. That's the nature of the debate around US engagement.
But I believe very strongly that the United States, like Five Eyes partners, wants to see peace in the region, we want to see that restored as quickly as possible and I think President Trump's made that clear.
QUESTION:
What's your source for the claim that war veterans want the Medivac Laws scrapped?
PETER DUTTON:
I saw this silly comment from a Fairfax journalist yesterday.
I've been a Member of this Parliament for 18 years in a marginal seat. I can tell you, I've got hundreds of war veterans in my electorate and the vast majority, I can assure you, knowing them personally and knowing the way in which they think about these matters, would strongly support the Government's position to abolish Medivac Laws.
QUESTION:
But have they contacted you and articulated that?
PETER DUTTON:
I've answered your question.
QUESTION:
Given the current security climate, why are you pushing back on calls for more ASIO funding?
PETER DUTTON:
Well again, this is just such a false line. The funding for ASIO this year will be the highest in its 70 year history. The number of staff at ASIO will tip over 2,000, the highest number in its history. The funding goes up each year. That's the reality of it. So don't listen to Labor's line or some misinterpretation of comments that were made.
There will be more funding for ASIO this year than any year in its 70 year history and we know that when Labor was in government, they ripped out $125 million from ASIO at the time when they lost control of their borders. They also ripped out money from the AFP to pay for the failure of borders, they took out money from the Australian Crime Commission to pay for the failure of policy around border protection; and they took out $735 million and 700 staff from Customs to pay for their failed border protection policies as well.
So there is a very significant contrast between Labor's approach to national security matters and to the approach of the Government.
QUESTION:
Has Jacqui Lambie given you any indication she will support…
PETER DUTTON:
I'm not going to go into conversations with Jacqui Lambie.
QUESTION:
What case have you made to her?
PETER DUTTON:
I'm not going into private conversations with her.
QUESTION:
NDIS executives are getting paid $23 million while many people with disabilities are still living without support. Is that acceptable?
PETER DUTTON:
Well there's a program there; there's a multi-billion-dollar program growing significantly year-on-year to help the most vulnerable in our country. We want the best possible management of what is a very significant amount of taxpayers' money. We want that money, as much of it as possible, to go to the service delivery for people who are suffering either terminal illnesses, lifelong diseases or disability and I think we want the best people there to manage that money appropriately and make sure we get the best possible outcome for those that are most vulnerable in our society.
QUESTION:
Just a question regarding the Aussies in Al-Hawl…
PETER DUTTON:
I've just dealt with that mate.
QUESTION:
Do you think that today's Senate inquiry will clear up any questions that Jacqui Lambie still has about the Medivac Laws?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, I hope so. I said yesterday there are people who are coming to our country who are of poor character who shouldn't come here, but have only come here because of the Medivac Laws that Labor passed. That's the reality.
I've made a decision in relation to one individual that I suspect will be tested in the courts. I hope that my decision is upheld, but we don't know and any government, Liberal or Labor, could be compelled to bring people to our country of bad character is completely unacceptable. We were already bringing people to our country who required medical attention and the fact is that this was never about the provision of medical services. It was always about just bringing people here from Manus and Nauru, which has been Kristina Keneally's desire from day one.
I really think people need to understand that this is an issue of Labor's making. It's a problem of Labor's making. They continue to water down their border protection policies and Kristina Keneally, at the moment, is completely out of control – and Labor Members of Parliament are saying this. There's obviously significant division within the Labor Party at the moment. Mr Albanese hasn't shown leadership. Perhaps in private, he's had some stoushes with Kristina Keneally and she's obviously won the day, but he is the Leader of the Labor Party and he needs to exercise that leadership because at the moment you've got unilateral decisions being made by Kristina Keneally, a failed premier from New South Wales, that aren't in our national interest. We're talking about national security matters here and for Kristina Keneally to be out there, running rogue, running roughshod, over Labor Party policy is completely unacceptable.
[ends]
