Subjects: Tragic police shooting in South Australia; the Prime Minister’s lack of leadership; Labor’s immigration detention chaos; Labor’s infrastructure chaos.
E&OE.
SARAH ABO:
Let’s bring in former police officer and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in Brisbane. Peter, I know we’re still hearing about this tragedy in South Australia, but it’s just terrible news, isn’t it?
PETER DUTTON:
It is, Sarah. I’m just standing here in the park, actually, in Brisbane with the police remembrance shrine behind us, and on the 29th of September, Australians stopped and commemorated all those police officers who have lost their lives.
For these police officers – they’d be mums and dads, they’d be your next door neighbour, a good mate that you know from your sporting team – they’ve just gone to a shift, they’re trying to do the right thing and help people and they’ve met with somebody who had evil thoughts and outcomes, and a person has died and a family have lost a loved one and the community should stop and pause again to say ‘thank you’ to our police officers for the work they do.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, they put their lives on the line every day, don’t they. It’s an absolute tragedy.
Alright. Well, let’s turn now to the new legislation rammed through Parliament yesterday designed to keep tabs on those 84 detained asylum seekers who were released.
Peter, the Government was forced to accept all your amendments. It seems as though you might be writing the Government’s policy, these days?
PETER DUTTON:
Sarah, if I was writing the Government’s policy, these people would be back in detention because we’re talking about some pretty serious criminals, and the first and foremost thought here is for the victims. There was one victim, a pregnant woman who was murdered and blown up with explosives. Unbelievable. And a non-citizen. Now it turns out the Government’s paying welfare to these 84, as well. They’re staying in motel accommodation paid for by taxpayers.
We had one hour to draft these amendments and there would have been a lot more that we would have done, but time was not on our side yesterday, but we ended up getting some changes and I hope that that gives us a chance of making the community a little bit safer. But while these people are out in the community, it’s a disaster.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, well, this is the thing – it needed to be rushed through, didn’t it, just to ensure public safety because there is concern out there. I mean, we’re talking about alleged offenders – as you just pointed out – who have been accused of murder, of paedophilia. It’s horrific to think that they are still out and about. The trouble is this also needs to be constitutionally sound, as you’d appreciate.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, of course it does, and you want to do everything within the law. But the problem is that the Government had since June to draft this legislation. Earlier in the week, on Monday and Tuesday, they were saying ‘there’s no legislation that can fix it’, ‘there’s nothing that we can do and therefore we’re not going to listen to what you’re saying’. But, in the end, it turns out that there was legislation that they could pass. Also, amazingly, we were informed that it’s not just the 84, there’s another 340 that potentially get released as well, and that is, you know, for those victims – and you’ve seen some of them in the press over the course of the last few days – they’re in tears. These are victims of rape, kids as young as ten who have been sexually molested. These are the worst of people and they’re not even Australian citizens. That’s why they shouldn’t be out in the community.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, I think the most staggering part about all of this was that the Government didn’t necessarily have a plan for this potential outcome despite us not knowing the High Court’s decision, that probably won’t be published for some time to come. We don’t want to go back to the drawing board. That’s the issue.
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah, that’s right. But the way that these things work, Sarah, is that the judges give hints and the government solicitors, the KCs who are there are advising the Government on prospects and the likely outcomes. So, prudent Governments look at a win, a loss, what that means? Do we need to draft legislation in anticipation? And there’s plenty of examples where the Government will come to us, or when we were in government we went to the then opposition saying ‘we’ve got to pass this bill today to clean up what is now a real problem that the court’s created’, and you do that within the law, obviously, or within the bounds of the Constitution. But that’s not what the Government’s done here.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah. And we saw all kinds of anger on the grounds of Parliament this week. You were very fired up, as was the PM. I mean he’s…
PETER DUTTON:
Oh, that was overblown.
SARAH ABO:
Was it?! It looked pretty firey from what I was watching!
PETER DUTTON:
No, it was faux outrage. We were kind to each other.
SARAH ABO:
Okay. I mean, one of the things you were angry about, Peter, was obviously the Prime Minister’s trips that he’s made so far this year. He’s now touched down in the US for a second time in just three weeks, this time for the APEC Summit. But as our political editor Charles Croucher said yesterday, ‘if you’re not on the table, you’re on the menu’.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, yeah, on one hand, but I just think it’s the first charge of the Prime Minister to take care of the Australian people first. This issue required his attention, and there are other issues that required his attention, including a National Cabinet to deal with anti-Semitism in our country. Instead of dealing with those issues, the PM’s jumping on the plane, heading over to another trip. I just think he could have delayed. I ended up having…
SARAH ABO:
Come on, Peter, if you were the PM, you’d be on that plane as well. Only two leaders that have missed the Summit since 1989. As if you wouldn’t go?
PETER DUTTON:
Joe Biden didn’t go to the last one because he went to his granddaughter’s wedding. So, you know, I mean, let’s put it into perspective.
SARAH ABO:
But that’s Joe Biden.
PETER DUTTON:
It did mean that I had to negotiate yesterday with Richard Marles, and…
SARAH ABO:
You didn’t enjoy that process?
PETER DUTTON:
…you know, no, no, it’s like going into the lion’s den there. He’s ferocious. He’s a pussy cat on the Today Show, but he’s a tough negotiator. That’s all I’ll say.
SARAH ABO:
Yes, he is tough, isn’t he, Richard? We all knew it!
PETER DUTTON:
Yes, there’s another side to him, don’t worry.
SARAH ABO:
Absolutely. Alright. Well, let’s move on now.
The Federal Government has drawn the ire of State Premiers across the country, axing 50 projects as part of its infrastructure review. Annastacia Palaszczuk is among those state leaders who is very angry. She’s labelled the cuts in your home state as ‘outrageous’. Are you finally on her side?
PETER DUTTON:
On this one, I am. Because there’ll be families who are jumping in their cars now, or have just got to work, they’ve been sitting in an hour traffic, and they’ve got to pick the kids up this afternoon –same story – on their way home from work. What we’d done with this plan was provided money to state governments and to local councils to help them bust some of that congestion. Now the Government’s ripped that money out and it’s just going to make congestion harder. This is a problem. It’s not just housing where the Government’s failing, but it’s also the infrastructure that’s required with it – the parks, the hospitals, the roads, the bridges, and this money was on the table for those projects and that’s why Labor premiers are extremely angry at the Labor Prime Minister.
SARAH ABO:
So, would you reverse it if in power?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, in power we made the announcements, the commitments, to these measures, but again, the Government’s pulling all the wrong levers on the economy. That’s why inflation is high and that’s why your interest rates are staying high.
SARAH ABO:
Well, they’re blaming you for not doing enough when you were in power, that’s the trouble.
PETER DUTTON:
Oh, who would have picked that, Sarah? I mean, what else are they going to say.
SARAH ABO:
You all blame each other, don’t you?
PETER DUTTON:
They’ve been in government for two years. They’ve had two budgets, they’ve made decisions, and there’s only so long that you can run that line. They’ve got to take responsibility, and it’s their decision to have had this 90 day review – which actually turned out to be a 200 day review – and they’re going to slash 50 projects and downgrade 250 others.
SARAH ABO:
Alright. So if we ever get PM Dutton, all the roads are going ahead! Thank you so much for joining us and for that massive promise right here on the Today Show.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks, Sarah. See you.
[ends]