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Peter Dutton says 'illiterate' refugees would be 'taking Australian jobs' Peter Dutton says 'illiterate' refugees would be 'taking Australian jobs'
(35 minutes later)
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, says unemployment will rise if Australia dramatically increases its refugee intake. The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has said refugees aren’t numerate or literate and would take Australian jobs in inflammatory comments arguing against increasing the refugee intake.
Labor has pledged to ramp up the intake to 27,000 and the Greens policy is 50,000. On Tuesday evening, Dutton made the remarks on Sky in response to a question about the Greens’ policy to increase the refugee intake to 50,000.
“For many people they won’t be numerate or literate in their own language let alone English ... these people would be taking Australian jobs and there is no question about that,” Dutton told Sky News. The show’s host, Paul Murray, said 90% of Afghan refugees don’t have a job and asked: “What on God’s Earth are these people suggesting about 50,000 being taken from every hell-hole of the world?”
Dutton responded: “For many people – they won’t be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English.”
.@PeterDutton_MP says more refugees will take Australian's jobs or languish in unemployment queues #ausvotes #pmlive https://t.co/TdFlaQc8Tb.@PeterDutton_MP says more refugees will take Australian's jobs or languish in unemployment queues #ausvotes #pmlive https://t.co/TdFlaQc8Tb
Dutton said those who can’t find work would “languish in unemployment queues”. Dutton said the Greens were “very close to the [Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union]” and Labor had “obviously well-known” affiliations with the union movement, implying that increasing the humanitarian intake would be unpopular with unions. “These people would be taking Australian jobs, there’s no question about that.
Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen, who has served as an immigration minister, said Dutton should apologise for the remarks. “For many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it, so there would be huge cost and there’s no sense in sugar-coating that, that’s the scenario.”
“There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Australia who have worked hard, educated themselves and their children and they will be shaking their heads ... in disgust,” Bowen told ABC Radio. In July the Labor national conference approved a policy mimicking the Coalition’s government’s strategy of turning back refugee boats. At the same conference it approved an increase of the humanitarian intake of refugees from 13,750 to 27,000 by 2025, which was supported by many union delegates.
The shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, rebuked Dutton for the comments: “There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Australia who have worked hard, who have educated themselves and their children and they will be shaking their heads at their minister today in disgust. He owes an apology, and it’s not to the Labor party, it’s them.
“Australia takes refugees for the right reasons, because of humane reasons, but we have also benefited over the years from the contribution of refugees. Most Australians would tell him he is just plain wrong.”
Asked about Dutton’s comments on the literacy and numeracy of asylum seekers, the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, said: “Let’s have a reality check here – of course the cost of ensuring people who come here to Australia as a refugee, [or on] a humanitarian visa, is very high.”
She said the government’s plan to take 12,000 Syrian refugees was costed at $700m.
Related: Australia's indefinite detention of refugees illegal, UN rulesRelated: Australia's indefinite detention of refugees illegal, UN rules
He said Australia had benefited significantly from the contribution of refugees who had settled here. “Peter Dutton is pointing out the self-evident fact that it costs a great deal of money to settle people in Australia. And, of course, the Greens never have to account for a budget, the costs of doing so.
The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, on Wednesday morning dodged a question about whether he agreed with Peter Dutton’s characterisation of refugees as illiterate and innumerate. “It’s just another example where they are so out of touch with reality. There is a cost and the Australian people bear it.”
“We are an incredibly compassionate nation ... we are a strong nation, we are a good nation, I am very proud of the work we do in getting refugees in our nation and we do that in making sure they don’t arrive by sea because we don’t want to be responsible for people drowning,” he said. Bishop said the costs included education, to teach refugees English. She said these costs ensured people could contribute to Australian society by speaking English, getting jobs and making a contribution.
When asked whether taking Australian jobs was a consideration when granting people asylum, Bishop said: “It’s not one of the considerations, what he’s pointing out is we would want such people to have a job if they are going to be in Australia, we don’t want them to be on welfare.”
“We bring about 13,750 refugees and those on humanitarian visas to Australia each year, in addition the 12,000 Syrians we promised to resettle and then that 13,750 will increase to 18,750 and that has to be paid for – Peter Dutton is talking about the very real cost of doing so.”
The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, said: “We are an incredibly compassionate nation … we are a strong nation, we are a good nation, I am very proud of the work we do in getting refugees in our nation and we do that in making sure they don’t arrive by sea because we don’t want to be responsible for people drowning.
“We want to show our compassion by finding people who are under threat of their life somewhere else and giving them support of our nation and allowing them to come here.”“We want to show our compassion by finding people who are under threat of their life somewhere else and giving them support of our nation and allowing them to come here.”