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Dutton: The Lone Voice of Cruelty…

I am going to make this short. Australia wants the Biloela Family to stay!

While Peter Dutton clearly believes that white au pairs for his rich mates deserve special consideration, white South African farmers “deserve special attention” and fast-tracked visas, young brown children born here, to good parents fleeing conflict and looking for a better life? Well, not so much.

At Dutton’s express orders, they should be locked up for months without proper medical care, early childhood education and amenities; left to self-harm while their teeth blacken and fall out, only to be disappeared/deported in the middle of the night.

In the case of the Biloela family, DUTTON’s behaviour is nothing short of disgraceful. EVERYONE wants these people to stay. BUT Dutton, with his power grubbing overreach, is the lone voice of cruelty. He has cordoned off the power to rest solely in his hands, and he is behaving shamefully.

His claim, that he is simply upholding the law, is nothing but a cloak of moral cowardice. Not only does it fail to acknowledge his own part in creating the cruelest aspects of those laws, it fails to give due deference to human decency.

If a law fails to account for the natural human instinct, to refrain from treating innocent children with a cruel and contemptuous disregard, then that law is immoral and needs to be changed. No ifs, buts or maybes.

Whether or not the parents are genuine refugees (as determined by the courts), these are good people, hard-working people, and their children were born here. They have never even set foot in another nation. Deportation of these AUSTRALIAN children may be legally permissible, but it is, nonetheless, wrong.

Dutton’s racism is so blatant, his preferential application of power so beset with bigotry and prejudice, he is simply not fit for public office.

This is not the Country I want us to be. I, like so many others these days, am sadly ashamed of the cruel and heartless nation we have become. From our policies on refugees, climate and welfare, to the inequity of corporate tax evasion and misconduct, we have lost our moral compass.

Under the auspices of our current government, we have become an immoral, corrupt, cruel and selfish nation that is indifferent to human decency.

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44 comments

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  1. Hotspringer

    I agree wholeheartedly but realise this monster actually increased his vote in the last election.
    Shame Aussie shame!

  2. Joseph Carli

    While I agree with the principles of Letitia’s post, I cannot…just CANNOT accept that a majority of the voting public put this collection of criothans back into office without dubious interference if not absolute electoral fraud!….The “Preference farming” by Palmer who is supposed to have plunged around $70 million of his own money into his party’s promotion goes against ANY previous capacity of such a blowhard to spend even a misers salary on anything!…I doubt the man would spend $2 to have his shirt ironed!…and his assets were frozen by the government authority in 2018 over suspect fraud claims concerning his nickel operations…So where did all this largesse come from?..a question the AEC seems incapable of inquiry into…just as it seems incapable of running a rule over the suitability of Palmers candidates…a motley crew at best…and in the interests of blocking litigious threat, I will not qualify my opinion of many others!

    With the now shown culpability and compromised behaviour of so many authorities, from the AFP to ASIO and all points “A” in between, I say it is fair game to ask of the AEC..: Is it too, compromised?…after all, it was public trust allowed those aformentioned authorities…and let’s include the banks, aged care and National Party in this…to sink to the low depths they did before being exposed as the common criminals they are…and it is only trust that exonerates the Australian Electoral Commission from the inquiring eyes of suspicion…let us not mention past ballot boxes that “must have fallen off the back of the truck in transit” irregularities…or thousands of “misplaced” votes and now Palmer’s sudden urge to spend millions on a reckless gamble that would have failed in its objective (as proven by Palmer’s claims himself) if even ONE of his gormless group was elected!

    No…I cannot accept there at that many vicious voters out there…sure, there is the fair percentage of voting this way or that ..as it should be…but to have so many vote “THAT” way in just the right seats, for just the right people (except that trouble maker!) at just the right percentage to get the gov’ just over the line…smacks of a crooked cooked book…..like those “postal votes” in just the right seats in just the right number for just the right people in the 2016 election…..SAY!…didn’t the LNP get in THAT time by just the one seat also??….wow!…what are the odds??….tell you what..I doubt you’d find ONE bookie willing to back such a chancey win with any decent odds above 5/1 for the LNP!

    Hey…you’d have to be a bit thick to trust the AEC.

  3. wam

    I ask myself how the rabbott born in england is australian but Kopika and Tharunicaa, are not?
    Then I remember the judgement of the high court that declared being born in Australian could be negated by the decision of government, ours or foreign. A judgement driven by conservatives for conservatives in line with government policy.

    I wonder if the girls could get an Australian passport?? That would cause a stir????

    “This is not the Country I want us to be:. Well, if you had the money, you could catch a boat?

    ps
    Joseph,
    fear of the economy put them back
    the timing of bobby and his screaming loonies put the icing on the fear of shorten and the unions.

  4. Michael Taylor

    Well said, Letitia. You are the voice of millions.

  5. John Ocallaghan

    The neo cons have infiltrated almost every Govt agency in this country with “their” people, the ABS were caught out recently saying our economy was going gang busters which of course is bullshit.

    I have no proof that the AEC are corrupt…but one of Abbotts first actions as PM was to appoint his mate as CEO of the AEC…WHAT?…. just saying that’s all!

  6. Joseph Carli

    Sadly..the family from Biloela caught the “cruel eye” of Dutton & his henchmen..

    “Five and twenty ponies,
    Trotting through the dark –
    Brandy for the Parson, ‘Baccy for the Clerk.
    Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie –
    Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!”

    wam…;” ps
    Joseph,
    fear of the economy put them back
    the timing of bobby and his screaming loonies put the icing on the fear of shorten and the unions.”….and if you were a bookie, you’d be prepared to back that chance with suitable odds?….bullshit!

  7. Patricia

    Well said, agree with everything you that you have written. Surely the majority of decent, thinking Australians can see the inhumane, immoral and indecent organisation that this government has become and thinks that this is not how we want to be represented.

  8. Lawrence Wijnder

    This nation has been corrupted so far that it is ripe for takeover and we’ll not have a clue what to do about it.

  9. Vikingduk

    The slimy, slug sucking shithead dutton, the thing that gives true meaning to the words cruel, evil, black hearted bastardry, backed by lord motormouth, the liar from the shire, seem to have set the standard that the majority of us find acceptable. Lies, fear and secrecy, the hallmarks of our democracy, with a dash of wilful ignorance and viciousness. Aren’t ya proud to be Australian.

  10. Joseph Carli

    wam…at the risk of sounding brutal in my postings..I say that WE as a people have for too long given our naivety of trust to those who least deserve it…We as a country trusted Menzies until the bloodsdhed of a futile Vietnam War showed our trust to be misplaced..and when Whitlam was voted into office, the three most revered institutions in the nation..: The Crown (representative), The Judiciary (In the High Court) and the Parliament (In the LNP Party), colluded in a flagrant coup to overthrow the elected government..an act of treason!…but we gave them our trust…and they betrayed it…and I say that if Whitlam had instead of vaingloriously proclaiming, sent the mob to deal summararily with those traitors and strung them up under the bridge crossing Lake Burley Griffin, that one afternoon of bloodshed would have matured this nation into a republic and changed the entire course of our history from this nation of cringing, whinging, pathetic crawlers that we have become.

    The “shedding of blood” denotes the maturing of both a person and a nation…Any women will say that until she has “bled” she has not reached a kind of maturity…as any working youth will say that the cuts and callouses on his hands are the marks of maturity … until such a time that we show gumption and take back what is ours from those who steal and cruel…we will remain juveniles in a world that demands actions from grown men and women.

  11. wam

    Tanya set the scene that this family is the exception that deserves ministerial intervention. Anyone heard McCormack’s support for the citizens of Biloela
    Joseph,
    If the lemon had the guts to go to an election in 2009? If shorten had the guts to smack bobby dowb in 2019??

  12. Keitha Granville

    Everyone , write to anyone you can think of. We have 3 days. Write to the PM, Dutton, your Senators, your MP. Write to newspapers, anyone !!

    Patricia – the majority of decent thinking Australians ?? Who are they? Where are they ? Certainly not present at the last election. I’m all right Jack is the prevailing wisdom, what’s in it for me, not in my backyard. They arrived on boats, illegals, they shouldn’t be here, send them back, freeloaders, bludgers on our welfare. Have I missed anything? That is the thinking are the majority of Australians.

    My husband, always a cynic, is probably right though. He says once they have been deported not a single person will give them a second thought. Even those who are thinking about them now.

    How sad is that ?

  13. Ray

    According to the wife of that Sri Lankan man, he was a member of Tamil Tigers, go google what is this?

    After the failed independence bid and defeated civil war which lasted 26 years, he fled his adopted country on a boat to Australia as a so called refugee.

    The rest is history as they say…

  14. Joseph Carli

    Wam…: ” Joseph,
    If the lemon had the guts to go to an election in 2009? If shorten had the guts to smack bobby dowb in 2019??”…WHAT?…WHAT?…what that supposed to mean…be specific..stop talking in cryptics…sure..that lemon ( you mean Rudd obviously?) instead of reassuriung all those Howard sleepers in charge of govvy dept’s that their jobs were safe in 2007, ought to have gone through the higher management like a dose of salts and lanced that boil before it became infected beyond cure…And yes..Shorten ought to have distanced himself from the gormless Greens Crusade to the “Holy Lands” of the mining industry…agreed..so what?..those two vague assertions alone do not change the course of history.

  15. Anarchy rules

    Malcolm Fraser whilst campaigning against our treatment of refugees stated if these people on the boats where white south African they would be welcomed here thus implying our current policy on boat people was all about racism. Then to blatantly confirm this Dutton stated that white south African farmers should be given special preference to come here.

  16. Lantanaman

    Can you believe we have barely begun the three years of pergatory that some of us signed up for last May. Already the promises, the assurances are unraveling as we watch helplessly.
    I had great difficulty believing the good folk in the US of A could elect trump, no typo, he deserves no capital, then we equal it electing this bunch. Wish I could hibernate till 2022.

  17. Kaye Lee

    Peter Dutton insisted that he must have the right of ministerial discretion to be able to overrule the decisions of the courts. Yet all the Coalition politicians are saying well that’s what the court ruled so we can’t do anything about it or (cue scary music) “THE BOATS”. Our defence and customs forces spend billions patrolling to stop (cue scary music) THE BOATS. This case is an example of how our government is entirely incapable of exercising common sense discretion. Dutton has been an inadequate minister in every job he has been given. But for some reason, he has power within his party. People’s lives destroyed for the sake of political brinkmanship. Dutton disgusts me and the cowardly politicians who enable him should be ashamed of themselves, as should be the voters of Dickson for lumbering us with this incompetent bastard.

  18. Stephengb

    Kaye Lee, I beg a differing conclusion about dutton, he is not incompetent, he can’t be, he is actually more powerful than the prime muppet. He ould be the most powerful minister in the west mnisyer system, perhaps even wielding more legal power than any minister in any representative democracy.

    Is this incompetence, I think not.

  19. Joseph Carli

    Stephengb…Dutton is only “powerful” via bestowed authority…that authority can be removed at caucas’s whim…or the PM’s whim…He is like the Praetorian Sejanus…who in acting under and with the bestowed power of Tiberius became too ambitious and over-stepped his authority…Perhaps it is time for this modern-day “Tiberius” (though more inclined to call Morrison an Elagabalus!) to call time on his subordinate.

  20. Phil

    That the Duttons of the world still exist beggars belief, I thought most of them got weighed off at Nuremberg and were dispatched with extreme prejudice pardon the pun. One can only imagine the trauma this toe rag inflicted on some members of the public masquerading as a copper. A first year student of psychology would have this toe rag analyzed in two minutes. A rancid racist, with an inferiority complex that sticks out like the proverbial dogs nurries. We have all met the Duttons of the world, all piss and wind. I can just imagine him as a copper, all mouth and trousers and without the police issued glock and a warrant card would have been and still is a shallow sniveling gutless cretin. But to the point, I am not a religious man but, will still pray for the family just ejected from Australia.

    As an aside, I see the politicians closed ranks along with the media over the recent death of Tim Fisher. The reporting of just another politician with their nose in the trough leaving this mortal coil was for me nauseating in the extreme. Any one would have thought he had just won the Nobel for a cure for cancer. I’ll come clean, I didn’t like the cut of his jib and I thought the man was a creep. Watching Paul Keating make him look like the village idiot when he was in parliament was and is, one of the few joys now left for me in life. We have of late lost the collective plot.

  21. Denis Hay

    It’s time Dutton and his evil government were kicked out of office. We need a new vision for politics in Australia: https://youtu.be/pm0utUd-ros

  22. David Bruce

    When Joh was premier in Queensland, his “Special Branch” had the dirt on every politician, judge, pastor, business leader, VIP visitor and newspaper proprietor in Australia. I always suspected that somehow that source ended up in the hands of a small group of Queensland ex-policemen just before the Fitzgerald inquiry got underway. Now we have the LNP scumbags claiming that Dutton is the “statesman” of the party today. It seems more likely he is the plug for the swamp drain hole. Oh, that I could live long enough to see karma in action here.

  23. Terence Mills

    As we all know, it was Dutton who orchestrated the palace coupe to topple prime minister Turnbull and seize power for himself : it failed.

    Under normal circumstances that sort of treachory in the Liberal party of old would have sent Dutton to the back-bench but in this case he was welcomed back to the fold and reinstated to his prior seniority in Cabinet.

    The question is, will Morrison be game to use his authority to override Dutton on this occasion ? Probably not.

    Stephengb, the fact that Dutton has used his cunning and factional power to cement his powerful position doesn’t mean that he is competent in the job that he does. He is known to be lazy and disinterested only coming alive when it’s to front up on 2GB with Ray Hadley or to venture the SKY studios. It is Mike Pezzullo who acts as his praetorian guard but even Pezzullo is looking exposed now that we know he has been directly liaising with the AFP on media raids.

    A recent report found that staff in Home Affairs are suffering low morale, poor engagement and high levels of bullying and harassment.

    The Department of Home Affairs was found to be the worst agency for staff engagement across the Australian public service and of the 97 APS agencies that were surveyed, the Home Affairs department ranked last for engagement, 94 for wellbeing and 91 for innovation.

    Dutton showed the same lack of engagement when he was minister for Health : the guy is a disaster !

  24. whatever

    Dutton is certainly not a “Lone Voice”. He is the spokesman for the ignorant, spiteful old Ted Bullpit class of Aussies who still shuffle along in their walking-frames to the voting booths.

  25. Rhonda

    It’s just so bloody awful and fcking-well fcked. I really do despair

  26. Karyn Meaker

    The only crime this family can be accused of is humanising the face of asylum seekers. Offshore detention has kept Australia from knowing the stories of asylum seekers. This has enabled the government to entrench the belief that offshore detention is for our protection. It is not. It is to protect the government by dehumanising asylum seekers. Now that the people of Biloela have discovered the common humanity of this family questions about the stereotyping of asylum seekers threatens this nations inhuman border protection program.

    It is however ironic and certainly strange that no one has drawn the connections of other inhumane and racist cases. At the same time, this is happening a similar case is unfolding in the high courts that if linked would show the contradiction in Peter Dutton’s actions. Tharunicaa was born in Australia and has lived here for the first two years of her life. Tim Galvin was born in New Zealand and spent the first two years of his life there. Tharunicaa is being deported because her place of birth is irrelevant and she belongs with her family. Tim Galvin is an Aboriginal man who is being deported to New Zealand because his place of birth determines where he belongs and his Aboriginal family in Australia is irrelevant. Has anyone told Jacinda Ardern that Peter Dutton now agrees with her that place of birth does not determine where a person belongs? I am sure New Zealand can use the outcomes of the case of Tharunicca and Kopika to point out why it will not be accepting the cases Jacinda Ardern has pointed out are inappropriate for deportation. Peter Dutton changes the rules to suit himself. According to Dutton if someone was born in New Zealand then New Zealand is responsible for them but if someone is born in Australia he will determine where they belong. How I’d love to see Jacinda ask Peter Dutton on the international stage if this case has changed his mind on deporting Kiwis.

  27. Cool Pete

    Dutton is an evil bastard and I hope his kids will hate him as much as Niklas Frank hates his father. And he deserves the same fate as Niklas Frank’s father.

  28. wam

    sorry joseph when bobby slashed his nose of xmas 2009 kevin o’lemon could have gone to an election and taken a slight risk by showing up the loonies. If he had condemned the behaviour of the loonies on their caravan he may have held the two seats labor needed?
    It is a poor attempt to get Albo to do something about people like dutton what about suss on everything what a twit surely she is worth a giggle at her inept handling of her portfolio??

  29. Terence Mills

    All the old arguments are coming out of the coalition daily talking points this morning, ranging from Dutton refusing to be lectured to by the Green/Left to the good old stand-by of the floodgates being opened if this small family were to be returned to Biloela.

    Those on AIMN just have to acknowledge that coalition spin is winning the day and Dutton has dug in his heels and this family will never get back to regional Queensland.

  30. Kaye Lee

    If anyone would like to add their voice to a plea for humanity ring Scott Morrison’s office on (02) 6277 7700. They do keep a tally of what callers are saying.

  31. Jill Grimsey

    I’m feeling very nervous. My ancestors arrived by boat. Will I be deported?

  32. Michael Taylor

    I think you’re safe, Jill.

    My grandfather and grandmother were illegal aliens but I’m safe.

  33. Stephengb

    Everyone who is a dual citizen or has the ability to be declared as acceptable for citizenship of another country is at risk of deportation.

    The law has been changed to make all of us in this particular class of persons (especially if you are not white) vunourable, we could be declared as personna non grata just for making comments on social media to criticise the government.

    As a second class Australian, a dual citizen, I am under no delusion that I am safe!

  34. David Robey

    FFS … they want to live in Biloela which is in the middle of woop woop. Does Dutton even know where it is? Choosing to live and work in such an isolated regional community in this day and age warrants a bloody medal … not deportation. Hey Dutton, you idiot … let them stay.

  35. Terence Mills

    It seems that SKY-after-Dark (SaD) are acting as a conduit for Dutton to save face, saying basically that Dutton cannot be seen to back down BUT if the family return to Sri Lanka they can then apply for a business and investor program migrant visa and whilst this means that they will have to have capital of at least $1.5 million to invest, SaD are suggesting that all the Green/Lefties out there (that’s us) could put their money where their mouth is to make this happen. Such a visa would almost instantly be approved and the family could be back in Biloela before the end of the year.

    Bizarre but it seems that Dutton is desperate and the government is worried that Jacinta Ardern may reach out a compassionate hand to this family and cause Morrison severe embarrassment on the international stage.

    Disturbing that SKY is now assuming the role that Fox News play in the USA where they write Trump’s playbook on a daily basis : whichever way you look at it, Murdoch dictates what this government does.

  36. Ross Barrell

    Thank you Letitia. I could not have said it better myself. Heaven help us if Dutton ever manages to become PM.

  37. Max Gross

    I would only add this: Dutton is NOT a “lone voice”. He is among many in the LNP. He was even reelected with a swing HIS way. Australia is sick, sickening and we have three long, depressing, destructive years to go…

  38. Michael Taylor

    At the moment he certainly is the face of it though, Max.

  39. Peter F

    Terence : “Bizarre but it seems that Dutton is desperate and the government is worried that Jacinta Ardern may reach out a compassionate hand to this family and cause Morrison severe embarrassment on the international stage.”

    What a wonderful thought. they could then move to Australia.

  40. Janet Murray

    For business to succeed we need population, Let them stay. Buy the farms back. Save our water. Maybe the drought will fix all this and we will become the next lot of boat people.

  41. Jaquix

    Niki Savva in her book “Plots and Prayers” says surprisingly Dutton is popular and has many friends (even she sounded surprised) in the Liberal Party of course, and has been described as a “sweet man” . So, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

  42. Matters Not

    Dutton benefitted from a swing in the recent election despite (confident) valiant efforts from GetUp (me included) to unseat and it’s now regarded as a fairly safe seat – not a marginal one. He is regarded as a good local Member – who delivers largesse.

    Go figure.

  43. Jean

    These days when Dutton makes some ‘strong’ statement, my first reaction is to doubt what he is saying, and so often I am right – he is starting to show desperation with his desire to win, that more lies are appearing! The one that really got me was the new boats appearing on the horizon – when it was actually a photo from 2014! That is desperation.
    Then he sinks as low as possible, and makes the clear claim that the Biloela couple only had children as an ‘anchor’ to be able to stay in Australia! Nothing to do with the idea that it might have been love that produced these little girls? Perhaps he doesn’t understand that sort of feeling?
    As far as I am concerned – born in Australia and you are an Australian! It is amazing that a government will change the rules to suit themselves.
    The LNP government have clearly copied the example set by Trump – they have no qualms about deviating from the truth and continue with the repetition of incorrect fact. Morrison has come up with the line that they inherited a debt from the ALP (some truth – but they have grown it enormously since!) and they also inherited a large carbon debt as well, which is clearly not true. Then Porter repeats the same words – it still isn’t true no matter how many times they repeat it!
    They are looking at 2012 figures where the carbon credits were a prediction – and quoting them once they are in government claiming them as a deficit, when in actual fact, the true figures were released in 2013 and showed a larger carbon credit than the predicted figure, which was due to the still working ALP policy – but Abbott put an end to the carbon policy and since then the credits have gone backwards! They are also using a surplus from prior to this particular agreement claiming that they will make the expected numbers ‘in a canter’ – again rubbish as it is only the surplus from a prior time that produces any surplus and clearly those figures shouldn’t be used!
    Lying government – who voted them in? Clearly people were hoodwinked!

  44. Jon Chesterson

    Under the auspices of our current government we have become an immoral, corrupt, cruel and selfish nation that is indifferent to human decency’. The other face of conservative – corporate – ‘Liberal’ compassion; Rebadging the truth and hiding your actions under national security lies. What does that smell like?

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