Subjects: Lunar New Year celebrations; death of Alexei Navalny; Labor’s border security crisis; the Government’s proposed fire sale of Defence estate assets and infrastructure.
E&OE.
PETER DUTTON:
It’s great to be here to celebrate Lunar New Year, and it’s a wonderful celebration of the heritage of 1.4 million Australians who have contributed in a marvellous way to modern Australia and since the 19th century have been a great success story: people who have worked hard, have educated their kids, and now provide enormous input into the business community, particularly the small business community here in Victoria, but around the country as well.
Now we woke this morning to the terrible news of the death of Alexei Navalny, who is a hero. He died for a country that he loved. He died in a fight against a dictator, a murderous dictator, and his passing shouldn’t go without recognition and without warning. He has been poisoned, he’s been tortured, and ultimately, he’s died in a cause that he wholeheartedly believes in. He was a hero for his country, and he has died in tragic circumstances, and all of our best wishes obviously go to his friends and supporters.
I’m happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
I’ll go first to Navalny and then to the arrival in Western Australia. Do you hold Vladimir Putin responsible for his death?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, clearly, the fact that Mr Navalny’s been poisoned, that he’s been tortured, ultimately, all of that falls at the hands of Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin is a murderous dictator, as we’re seeing in Ukraine now, and the fact that he would be responsible for incarcerating his opposite number, allowing the person to be poisoned, to be incarcerated in the way and treated in the way that he has is appalling, and it speaks to the character of President Putin.
QUESTION:
What’s the correct global response?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, there should be a global condemnation, and I’m sure there will be. There’s no question that people are losing their lives – men, women and children – in Ukraine this very moment because of the decisions taken by President Putin. He’s a murderous dictator, and he’s certainly got blood on his hands in relation to Mr Navalny, and he has stifled every attempt by Mr Navalny to stand up for the people of Russia and to fight for democracy and to fight for the rights of humanity, in Russia.
I think it’s a truly tragic day, and he has gone through a terrible ordeal in fighting for a country that he loved very dearly.
QUESTION:
And, so, if Putin is silencing so many of his opponents, what hope is there for regime change for that democracy?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, the people of the world, with our values, with our shared values, need always to stand up against autocrats and against dictators and against people that would seek to do harm to their own people.
It’s the reason that we’re in the AUKUS compact, it’s the reason that we have allies who share our values and with whom we’ve gone into conflicts, in our part of the world, across Europe, and in other parts of the world, to stand up for women and children, to make sure that we stand up for human rights. We should always remind ourselves that our country is safe and secure today because we’ve stood for those values that people have lost their lives for defending our country, and they should never, ever be abandoned.
QUESTION:
Just on the arrivals in Western Australia, the Commander of the Border Force has put out a statement saying any narrative that Australia’s border protection regime has changed will be exploited by people smugglers. Is he right?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, there’s just no question about the fact that Operation Sovereign Borders is not supported by the Albanese Government. I ran Operation Sovereign Borders. I know exactly how these people smugglers work. They will react to a weak Prime Minister and to a weak Minister. If they see vulnerabilities, they will exploit them, and that’s exactly what has happened here.
I mean, does the Prime Minister’s phone not work in the car? Why wasn’t he briefed? If he doesn’t have interest in it – we know that there was no National Security Committee held, for example, in relation to the decision about not sending a ship to try and provide a secure trading route in the Middle East – and we know that this is a Prime Minister who doesn’t believe in Operation Sovereign Borders. It’s not true to say under this Government that if you arrive in Australia, you won’t stay. The fact is that under the Albanese Government, they have attacked and pulled down the legs of Operation Sovereign Borders and people smugglers notice that.
QUESTION:
The Commander himself is saying that the Operation hasn’t changed since 2013. Are you saying that he’s wrong?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I’m just saying that the Prime Minister’s made very clear that his Government does not support Operation Sovereign Borders. He’ll tell you that he supports Operation Sovereign Borders, but that’s not the actions that he’s taken: taking away temporary protection visas, and the way in which the Government has conducted itself in the migration programme, allowing 149 criminals out onto the street – people who are not citizens, who have committed terrible crimes – the people smugglers see all of that and they market it. They’re very savvy. They look at every word and every action of the Government, and they package it up, they pitch it in a sales pitch to people who are willing to pay money, the fact is that we’ve got a weak Prime Minister when it comes to our borders. He’s allowed this boat through, I think it’s number 12 of boats that have got through so far, and the Prime Minister reaps what he sows.
I don’t think people trust this Government. Their energy policy is a train wreck. Their border protection policy is a train wreck, and cost of living for families at the moment, it’s unmanageable for many families. Here in Box Hill, right across Victoria, right across the country, there are families having to find thousands of dollars extra each month to pay their mortgage, to pay an increased cost when they go to the supermarket. They’re paying more for gas – 29 per cent more for gas under this Government, 23 per cent more for electricity, and the bills just keep stacking up under Anthony Albanese. I don’t think people can afford another three years of the Albanese Government.
QUESTION:
And do you think last year’s High Court decision has given a signal to people smugglers?
PETER DUTTON:
There’s no question that the people smugglers will look at all of these issues. If they see any weakening in the policy, if they see any ability for a permanent outcome, they will pay their money to get on a boat, and they’ll give it to the people smugglers, because people smugglers don’t care whether those boats are successfully landed in Australia or not. They’ve taken the money, and they treat people just as another commodity.
The fact that the Albanese Government has been so weak on its border protection policy, it should come as no surprise that we’ve seen this boat arrival. I hope that we don’t see any more. But the Prime Minister has dismantled Operation Sovereign Borders, and there is a consequence to pay for that. If the Prime Minister allows the boats to restart, then the people smugglers will have won. The Prime Minister needs to show a level of strength and resolve that he’s not done so so far, and we need to make sure that we keep those boats stopped. But they won’t stop if they believe that they’ve got the Prime Minister’s measure.
QUESTION:
And lastly, just a state politics question, but it’s been revealed that three former Liberal Premiers have donated to a defamation action that the State Liberal Leader, John Pesutto, is involved in because his Party wouldn’t pay it. Do you think his Party should fund those legal costs?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, that’s a matter for the Victorian Division, and for John, and the former Premiers. I’ll leave it to them.
I’ll just make a comment about the other story that’s running today. In relation to our defence estate and the establishments. It is steeped in heritage, it does a great disservice to the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, not just those who are serving, but those who have served our country and indeed those who have lost their lives fighting for our country. So, closing down and trashing the history of the Australian Defence Force is not something that the Coalition will support.
The Coalition will not support the Albanese Government’s fire sale of defence assets, because they’ve spent money everywhere else and they’ve now run out of money, so they either increase taxes or they start attacking Defence.
When Labor was last in government, they reduced spending in defence down to the lowest level since 1938 – 1.56 per cent of GDP. We’ve got a situation now where the Government is trying to patch up, obviously, a black hole that they’ve got in their budget. They’ve spent $209 billion extra money just in the last 18 months, and selling off assets and historic buildings within the Defence Estate portfolio is not something that can be supported.
So I want to make it very clear to the Prime Minister: we will not support his fire sale of Defence assets, because that’s where our soldiers, and our sailors, all of those Defence Force personnel, all of the Navy personnel at those establishments, that’s where they work. If the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister got out of Canberra and went and visited some of those Defence establishments, they’d actually see that they work in facilities. This is where the men and women of the Australian Defence Force are working every day to keep us safe, and now the Prime Minister wants to sell their workplace.
It’s completely and utterly unacceptable.
Thank you.
[ends]