Defence Minister Peter Dutton has condemned Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s comment on border protection after Albanese said his preference was for boat turnbacks over offshore detention of asylum seekers.
On Thursday, the Opposition Leader told reporters in Cessnock that he did not consider offshore processing centres necessary because asylum seekers trying to enter Australia by boat will be turned back.
“We’ll turn boats back. Turning boats back means that you don’t need offshore detention,” Albanese said.
Three hours later, he clarified his remarks by ensuring that offshore detention would be kept.
“I was asked today about boat turn-backs. Our position is clear. We continue to support them,” Albanese noted.
“At the moment, there aren’t people who have gone into offshore detention in recent times because the boats have been turned back. It’s been effective.”
He added the incumbent government had been waiting “a long, long period of time” before taking up the New Zealand settlement deal, which will remove all designated refugees from Nauru over three years.
The Opposition leader’s statement has prompted criticism from Defence Minister Peter Dutton, who described it as “dangerous.”
“People smugglers will be jumping for joy off their couches… in Indonesia and Sri Lanka and Vietnam because that’s actually a very dangerous statement he’s made this morning,” he told 2GB on Thursday.
“If that’s what he has said, that is a weakening of the policy that even Julia Gillard had.”
“He already doesn’t support temporary protection visas, which underpins the whole Operation Sovereign Borders. And the regional processing is a key element of the policy as well. You can’t just turn people around.”
“That is a real change of policy, and I don’t know, maybe he’s made a mistake at a press conference again, but the wheels are falling off the Anthony Albanese bus at the moment.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who served as immigration minister in the Tony Abbott administration, also weighed Albanese’s remarks.
“Anthony Albanese has had every position on border protection,” Morrison told reporters in Tasmania.
“He has supported everything he has opposed, and he has opposed everything that he has supported. We have seen that across so many issues. I am not surprised that Australians are confused about what he stands for.”
The PM also described Albanese as a “complete weather vane” on border protection.
Labor has been dropping more policy announcements after implementing a small target strategy to avoid scrutiny.
Albanese will be placing health at the forefront for the first week of the election campaign. On Wednesday, he defended his $135 million (US$100 million) election promise to fund 50 urgent medical care centres across the country, amid criticism it’s a copy of the policy under Kevin Rudd.
On Thursday, Morrison noted that his priorities would be jobs. He has announced a $250 million investment in two oil refineries and a $220 million fund for a new technology package for the forestry sector.
