Subjects: Illegal Maritime Arrivals; US resettlement of refugees from Nauru and PNG.
E&EO…………………………………………………………………………………………..
DAVID SPEERS:
Peter Dutton thanks very much for your time. Can we just start about who we're talking about here? There are around 70, or up to 70, asylum seekers; all were approved weren't they to come here on medical grounds from Manus Island or Nauru by presumably either you or your predecessor, Scott Morrison. Is that right?
PETER DUTTON:
It's a combination. Some people came as supporters or carers, if you like – so they didn't have any medical problems at all – but whether somebody came seeking medical attention and that medical attention has now been provided, or if they were a carer, the condition on which they left Nauru or Manus to come to Australia for that medical assistance was that they would return when the medical assistance had been provided. There's medical clearance in relation to each of these people to return back to either their country of origin or to Nauru or Manus, and of course, now they're refusing to that and they've taken legal action to stop the Government from returning them back as they had agreed to do.
DAVID SPEERS:
Why don't you take them on in the courts? They've launched these legal injunctions as you say, but my understanding is the Government hasn't actually challenged any of them.
PETER DUTTON:
Well it's with the solicitors at the moment. Obviously we take advice from the Solicitor-General and the counsel within my own Department – the federal Immigration Department's in the courts everyday on these sorts of matters – so no doubt there will be a date for listing and all of that legal process is underway, but none of that should be required David. Let's deal with the facts here.
The fact is that people consented to coming here on the basis that they would return when they received the medical assistance and they refused to do that; and to see Labor come out today and say that they would somehow allow people to stay, well frankly, that is the first sign, the first formal sign from Labor that they would allow people to stay from Manus and Nauru, which would be glee to the ears of people smugglers who'd be rubbing their hands together at the moment.
This is a very serious matter. These are tough decisions that need to be made and we have made them and that's the rule of the game here David. If you come under conditions, agree to those conditions you should abide by them.
DAVID SPEERS:
Okay. So to what you are doing, you're putting them on these final departure bridging visas. How long can they stay in Australia on those visas?
PETER DUTTON:
Well people can be taken into immigration detention, they can have their visas cancelled and they can be held in immigration detention. These people have had free housing provided to them, they've been given free money otherwise from the Australian taxpayer and they have refused to return back to Nauru – so this costs the Australian taxpayer a considerable amount of money and it's very frustrating when in total we're now spending $1.9 billion a year on Labor's legacy caseload; that is the 30,000 of the 50,000 people who arrived on those 800 boats. We've been able to have now for over three years not a successful boat arrival. There hasn't been a death at sea on our watch, we've got every child out of detention…
DAVID SPEERS:
…yeah, appreciate that…
PETER DUTTON:
…and we've closed those 17 detention centres. So why would Labor put all that…
DAVID SPEERS:
…okay, but just to what happens now; so on these departure bridging visas that they're on, can they if they get a job because they're entitled to, as I understand it under that visa, can they stay in Australia or not?
PETER DUTTON:
No. They have been told that, as everybody else has been told, if you seek to come to Australia by boat, you will not settle permanently in our country and we've been very clear about that. Now, if the people smugglers start…
DAVID SPEERS:
…how long have they got to stay before they have to go, before they're forced to go?
PETER DUTTON:
They're required to go now David. So, they have been given the medical attention or they have provided support to somebody that needs medical attention and they are expected to go back now. That's the reality. Labor can look for all the excuses that they want, but there had been up until this point bipartisan support of our position that if you sought to come to Australia by boat, you would not settle here.
So the people smugglers will be messaging now that if you go to Manus or go to Nauru and then get medical attention in Australia then you can stay there. That will be the message that they put out, that's why Labor's position is quite dangerous.
DAVID SPEERS:
Okay. Will they be forcibly removed...I'm just trying to get to what happens. Are they forcibly removed?
PETER DUTTON:
Well David, as I say, if we're injuncted in the courts and we can't remove them for those legal reasons, if people are challenging the basis of the cancellation or removal from Australia, then that needs to be dealt with in the court. So we're not going to act outside of the undertakings that we've given, but let's be very clear; these people are getting greater assistance than Australian pensioners. These people are being given money, welfare payments on top of free housing – that is better than what our Australian pensioners get that have been working here their whole entire working life – and I think it's impossible to understand now why Labor has gone weak on this; and frankly, one of the reasons obviously is not because they're worried about these people, they're worried about winning seats in Green inner city seats and that's what's driving Bill Shorten's about-face on this policy and Australians should recognise that Bill Shorten hasn't been able to hold the position of Operation Sovereign Borders, even from Opposition – you could imagine how bad he would be from government.
So we have to provide support to people. When that support has been provided they need to return back to Nauru or Manus or back to their country of origin. That's the position the Government is going to standby.
DAVID SPEERS:
Okay, but I'm just trying to be clear on this. What happens to them now, Minister? If they're put on these bridging visas as they are from today, what actually happens? They're allowed to go and find a job and a house presumably themselves or are they forced to go?
PETER DUTTON:
Well David they have work rights under this visa, so we're not making people destitute. People can go and get work, but they can pay for their own accommodation and they aren't getting welfare. They can pay for their own expenses. At the moment these people are sitting in taxpayer funded houses, not like a rent subsidy like a pensioner would get, 100 per cent of the rent is being paid for these people and they're receiving welfare. They'll also get Medicare…
DAVID SPEERS:
…and if so, they can stay in Australia if they do manage to get a job, they can stay?
PETER DUTTON:
No David. At the moment the only reason that they're staying is for the legal impediment. So as they've arrived in Australia, the lawyers have gone out and injuncted us from returning those people, and that's the way that it is at the moment. We can't return them because of the legal reasons. If the legal impediment wasn't there, these people would be, as we do regularly, as any country does with people who are here unlawfully, they can leave voluntarily or they're forcibly detained and removed from our country – the same as we would send somebody back, a criminal back to the United States or a student over stayer from China or Vietnam, those people would go back regardless of whether they consented to it or not. If they had breached their visa conditions then they would go back.
So these people have work rights, they have the ability still to access Medicare, they have the ability to send their kids to school if they're a school age, so you know, that's the arrangement until we can resolve the matters legally, but at the moment there is a legal impediment in sending them back. But I promise you David, as sure as night follows day – I read the intelligence reports – these people smugglers will use this announcement by Labor as an opportunity to market again that Australia is open for business. That is how calculating these people are.
Labor fell for this trick last time. They showed weakness to the people smugglers. They blinked to the Greens and my counterpart Mr Neumann is out there at the moment saying that Labor will side with the Greens in Parliament next week to move some stunt. Well frankly; I think Australians would be completely bemused at that stance and if they want the boats to restart, then they're sending every signal that that's what would happen under a Shorten government.
So all this pretence of bipartisanship and Labor supporting the Government, being in lockstep in relation to Operation Sovereign Borders and the tough steps that we've had to take to keep people off boats and to stop them drowning at sea; well Mr Shorten has indicated from Opposition, let alone – at least Kevin Rudd waited until he got into government to show the signs of weakness – Mr Shorten has demonstrated that he would not be able to stop these boats. The threat is still out there, the people smugglers would still put people on boats tomorrow.
DAVID SPEERS:
Can I just clarify with you Minister, on the asylum seekers who are here in Australia for either medical or compassionate grounds, are they eligible for resettlement in the United States or do they have to be in Manus Island or Nauru to be eligible?
PETER DUTTON:
We aren't sending people from Australia to the United States, David. Again, this is a Labor red herring. I know they're running around with this line today, but the Americans aren't interviewing people in Australia to go to the US. They are interviewing people on Manus and Nauru and we have been clear about the fact that people from Manus and Nauru who have sought to come by boat would not settle permanently in Australia.
So Labor can look for all the fig leafs they want, but the reality is people are not being interviewed by the Americans here in Australia. People on Manus and Nauru, that is those people that we see as a priority, they are the people that will be interviewed and ultimately sent to the United States.
DAVID SPEERS:
But what if you've genuinely been bashed, assaulted, raped even, or you're really crook and you have to come to Australia?
PETER DUTTON:
Well David, as I've said, not only have we ramped up the medical assistance provided on Nauru for example – bearing in mind that there are no women or children on Manus – but if you're talking about women for example on Nauru, the fact is that since we've made the changes, that is provided more medical support in the tens of millions of dollars by way of support to those on Nauru, we've seen a massive reduction in the number of people self-harming, seeking to come to Australia as a result of that.
So Labor had created a market, frankly, of hundreds of people – 400 in total who are here at the moment, the 60 odd that we're speaking about today are part of the 400 – those people have come here either to provide assistance or as part of a family group providing assistance to one person that needs medical attention. Labor created a market for those people here. We've stopped that. We've reduced the number of self-harms as a result of it and people will be provided with the medical support they need.
DAVID SPEERS:
If you're genuinely in need of medical support, are you disqualified from resettlement in the US?
PETER DUTTON:
Who settles in the US is an issue for the US. I mean that's the bottom line, but they'll look at each of the cases…
DAVID SPEERS:
But are they eligible for consideration?
PETER DUTTON:
Well again, I can't speak for the Americans, as is the case for the Australian Government – we'll decide who we think is a worthy person to come through our refugee and humanitarian programme – so the United States will look at individual cases and decide whether or not somebody is a genuine refugee and whether or not they're eligible under the conditions that the US has put in place to settle in the United States.
DAVID SPEERS:
Alright. So it's really up to the US. A final one; the Manus Island centre is due to close in two months. About 700 of the men there are refugees, have been found to be refugees, so some of them might be taken to the US, but there's still a bit of a question mark as to what happens next? I see the new PNG Attorney-General is worried about this, saying they're not going to allow a situation where Australia withdraws and leaves behind these international fugitives and expect us to carry it on our steam. Is there a problem here with PNG on what happens to those after the centre closes?
PETER DUTTON:
Well David under the arrangement struck by the Labor Government, signed by Prime Minister Rudd, people on Manus who had been found to be refugees were to be settled in PNG. That was the Labor Party agreement and that's the agreement that we operate under at the moment. So, we'll continue our discussions with our PNG counterparts and they're keen to see people exit and go to the United States obviously. There are other people that have decided that they will go back to Iran and Afghanistan and elsewhere now because they've taken settlement packages and they've realised that they aren't going to be settled in Australia. So we're seeing a significant uptick in the number of people that want to return back to their country of origin.
So we'll work with the PNG Government, but we've been very clear about the fact that we want the Regional Processing Centre to close. The fact that we've stopped the boats means that we don't have new arrivals filling up the vacancies that we're creating and we're cleaning up Labor's mess. Labor put these people there and we're trying to get them off.
DAVID SPEERS:
And Australia's not responsible for those after that point?
PETER DUTTON:
Well that's the agreement signed by Labor when they were last in government. It's the agreement that we operate under this very day.
DAVID SPEERS:
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, thanks so much for talking to us this afternoon.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks David, thank you.
[ends]
