Peter Dutton has suggested that the former prime minister Malcolm Fraser should not have let people of “Lebanese-Muslim” background into Australia – citing as evidence a small cohort of individuals who have been charged with terrorism offences.
The immigration minister made the potentially incendiary remark after being pressed by Labor during question time on Monday.
Labor went on the offensive after the immigration minister’s declaration on the Andrew Bolt program on Sky News last week that Fraser had made mistakes in bringing some migrants to Australia during the 1970s – and the country was paying for that now.
On Monday the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, pressed Dutton to be specific – which groups was he speaking about?
In response, Dutton said he wouldn’t be “bullied and I won’t be demonised by this union leader”.
He referred initially to non-specific concerns about criminal activity, adding: “Some of those people who have been involved in heading off to Syria and to Iraq.”
With discomfort evident on the government backbench, Shorten pressed Dutton for specifics.
“Which people from which country does the minister believe should not have been allowed into Australia when Mr Fraser was prime minister?” he asked.
Dutton: “The advice I have is that out of the last 33 people who have been charged with terrorist-related offences in this country, 22 of those people are from second- and third-generation Lebanese-Muslim background.”
.@billshortenmp asks Peter Dutton to explain his controversial comments on Malcolm Fraser's immigration policies #qt https://t.co/v0NXF1r4kA
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 21, 2016
Dutton said he did not want entire communities “to be defined by those people who are doing the wrong thing and have been charged with terrorist offences or have been involved in crime otherwise”. But he said he did not intend “to shy away from the facts”.
“I am going to call out those people who are doing the wrong thing. And if we pretend otherwise, Mr Speaker, my judgment is that we only compound these problems,” the immigration minister said.
“I don’t want people, whether they are longstanding or new arrivals to this country, I don’t want those people being harmed. I don’t want terrorist offences being committed in our country.
“I don’t want people committing all sorts of extortion and other crimes in parts of the country. I don’t want that.
“I want a safe country. And I’m going to do everything that I can, Mr Speaker, in this portfolio, to stare these threats down.”
“I’m not interested in the politically correct nonsense the leader of the opposition might carry on with.”
The Lebanese Muslim Association reacted angrily last week after Dutton’s comments on the Bolt program, suggesting they were a clear reference to the community who came to Australia during the Fraser government because they were fleeing civil war.
The association branded Dutton’s comments reckless. Further comment has been sought.