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| Peter Dutton offers bizarre response to Labor's claim on citizenship briefing | Peter Dutton offers bizarre response to Labor's claim on citizenship briefing |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The office of the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has offered a bizarre response to accusations he misled journalists about briefing Labor on his proposed citizenship changes. | The office of the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has offered a bizarre response to accusations he misled journalists about briefing Labor on his proposed citizenship changes. |
| Tony Burke, the shadow minister for citizenship, accused Dutton of falsely claiming to have briefed Labor on the plans he announced this week. | |
| Burke said the last briefing Labor received was on 8 May. | Burke said the last briefing Labor received was on 8 May. |
| “Today I see in the papers, a claim that [the citizenship legislation] is somehow linked to national security ... once again, we’ve got changes here that have appeared in the paper that weren’t part of the briefing, that weren’t part of the government’s original proposal,” he said on Tuesday. | “Today I see in the papers, a claim that [the citizenship legislation] is somehow linked to national security ... once again, we’ve got changes here that have appeared in the paper that weren’t part of the briefing, that weren’t part of the government’s original proposal,” he said on Tuesday. |
| But a spokeswoman for Dutton rejected Labor’s claims and said that Burke had been briefed “three years ago”. | But a spokeswoman for Dutton rejected Labor’s claims and said that Burke had been briefed “three years ago”. |
| Dutton announced plans on Sunday to introduce legislation to parliament that would make it harder to get Australian citizenship, and he called on Labor to support the bill, saying the opposition had been briefed. | Dutton announced plans on Sunday to introduce legislation to parliament that would make it harder to get Australian citizenship, and he called on Labor to support the bill, saying the opposition had been briefed. |
| On Monday, he announced a second tranche to the bill, saying it would also give him power to overrule decisions by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on citizenship applications that he did not think were in Australia’s national interest. | On Monday, he announced a second tranche to the bill, saying it would also give him power to overrule decisions by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on citizenship applications that he did not think were in Australia’s national interest. |
| He called on Labor to support the bill again, and said the party had been briefed. “They’ve already had a briefing in relation to many of these matters and once they’ve seen the legislation this week they can ask questions,” Dutton said on Monday. | He called on Labor to support the bill again, and said the party had been briefed. “They’ve already had a briefing in relation to many of these matters and once they’ve seen the legislation this week they can ask questions,” Dutton said on Monday. |
| Defending the claim that Labor had been briefed on the AAT proposal, Dutton’s spokeswoman pointed to a Hansard transcript from 2014 in which the House of Representatives voted on a bill that granted the immigration minister the power to overrule decisions by the AAT. | |
| She pointed to a passage in the transcript, in which the then-immigration minister, Scott Morrison, told the House: | She pointed to a passage in the transcript, in which the then-immigration minister, Scott Morrison, told the House: |
| “[This] bill provides the minister with the power to personally set aside certain decisions of the AAT, if it is in the public interest to do so. Some decisions that have been made by the AAT have led to outcomes that are outside the community standard that citizenship policy is intended to meet. These have included occasions where the AAT has found that people were of good character despite having been convicted of child sexual offences, of manslaughter, of people smuggling or indeed of domestic violence. There should be no excuse for a minister to allow someone to become a citizen in such circumstances.” | “[This] bill provides the minister with the power to personally set aside certain decisions of the AAT, if it is in the public interest to do so. Some decisions that have been made by the AAT have led to outcomes that are outside the community standard that citizenship policy is intended to meet. These have included occasions where the AAT has found that people were of good character despite having been convicted of child sexual offences, of manslaughter, of people smuggling or indeed of domestic violence. There should be no excuse for a minister to allow someone to become a citizen in such circumstances.” |
| She said: “How can Tony Burke say he has not been briefed when he was in the House for the vote?” | She said: “How can Tony Burke say he has not been briefed when he was in the House for the vote?” |
| The bill to which she referred was the Australian citizenship and other legislation amendment bill 2014. | The bill to which she referred was the Australian citizenship and other legislation amendment bill 2014. |
| When the bill was introduced, Tony Abbott was still prime minister, Scott Morrison was immigration minister and Peter Dutton was health minister. | When the bill was introduced, Tony Abbott was still prime minister, Scott Morrison was immigration minister and Peter Dutton was health minister. |
| Burke was the shadow minister for finance and did not hold a citizenship portfolio. He voted against the bill, which was later stalled in the Senate and lapsed in April 2016. | Burke was the shadow minister for finance and did not hold a citizenship portfolio. He voted against the bill, which was later stalled in the Senate and lapsed in April 2016. |
| Burke said he had “no words” when confronted with the argument from Dutton’s office that he had been briefed. | Burke said he had “no words” when confronted with the argument from Dutton’s office that he had been briefed. |
| “Turns out the latest version of Peter Dutton’s citizenship package is legislation that was introduced in 2014,” he said. “The incompetence is breathtaking. I’d like to say more but when Peter Dutton becomes this bizarre, I have no words,” he said. | “Turns out the latest version of Peter Dutton’s citizenship package is legislation that was introduced in 2014,” he said. “The incompetence is breathtaking. I’d like to say more but when Peter Dutton becomes this bizarre, I have no words,” he said. |