48 comments

1. Deidre ZankerAugust 18, 2016 at 5:16 pm

   Take all refugees and asylum seekers off Manus and Nauru and replace them with Dutton, Morrison, Abbott & Turnbull and their supporters.

2. diannaartAugust 18, 2016 at 5:32 pm

   Deidre, I’d like to see that.

3. diannaartAugust 18, 2016 at 5:41 pm

   Dutton should not be let out without a muzzle. Sean Kelly finished his article on the ignoramus that is Dutton with this closing line:

   Someone show the minister his own words. If he can’t see the problem himself, see if you can explain it to him. And if he still doesn’t understand, please talk to the prime minister, and ask that he be removed.

   https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/sean-kelly/2016/18/2016/1471504197/things-peter-dutton-has-said-may

4. David1August 18, 2016 at 5:45 pm

   No court in the country would rule defamation and Dutton is trying to cover his guilt with throwaway threats. As Kaye Lee has shown here, the evidence of that he is accused, is mounting by the day.
   I have not read or heard one of his former associates from Queensland Police, say a word in his defense since he became a Minister and one of the great disasters in the history of the Australian Parliament
   Dutton is vermin of the lowest type and those who returned him just, in the July election are of similar type. Loyalty to ones party does not excuse his supporters sending such filth back to Canberra.

5. HarquebusAugust 18, 2016 at 5:50 pm

   Perhaps we should try harder to rid the world of tyrants, oppressors and abusers of human rights. Then, everyone can go home.

6. paulwalterAugust 18, 2016 at 5:51 pm

   It could be a prelude to another bout of broadsheet bashing to divert attention from the spotlight they are under, the glare, they don’t like it.

   There is no point in me pouring invective upon Peter Dutton and several of his strange colleagues. But I do fear for both Australia and the USA because the political structures both here and there seem wonky or unsafe.

   The best to hope for is Clinton unfortunately and at least a hope of a rational reappointing the US Supreme Court, so delinquent for so long.

   Here it seems Turnbull is hopelessly long jammed in a clogg of his own making, human too human, may be the most obnoxious and craven of his ideas can be blocked out.

7. keertiAugust 18, 2016 at 5:57 pm

   I’m not at all rich, but I’ll pay dutton’s plane fare! On second thoughts, it would be more appropriate to send him in a leaky boat without a compass!

8. Lindsay StaffordAugust 18, 2016 at 6:02 pm

   It is no use recommending reading reports.
   a) they never do
   b) I have yet to be convinced that they can even read

9. helvityniAugust 18, 2016 at 6:25 pm

   Sorry to be abrupt, but we, the Australian population vote people like Dutton in power.

   Walk in the other man’s shoes Mr Dutton and find out how would you feel if you woke up on this guano, this birdshit island, and you were going to be there forever, not for a limited time, but FOREVER.

   Shame on you Australia, shame on you Mr Turnbull.

   Even the ex-advisor to Howard Terry Barnes had to struggle to come to terms with this horrid issue.(on the Drum).

10. kerriAugust 18, 2016 at 6:28 pm

    Dutton is a cretinous liar! He deserves to be tried for torture! He encompasses much of the Wizard of oz story.
    No brain.
    No heart.
    And an impostor.
    Please someone melt him?
    Dierdre you could run for Parliament on that platform!

11. PhilAugust 18, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    Good work Kaye Lee – keeping the facts and the information out front where they can be spread widely through social media – and that means global attention is chipping away at the governments edifice and at Dutton’s amoral foundations. The edifice is shaky and if this type of exposure can be kept up, then the government will either act responsibly or the system will collapse and recriminations will follow.

    I am confident that ministers and others responsible for this current human rights disaster will find themselves answering to courts both here and in the international arena.

    Thank you for your tireless work Kaye Lee.

12. SuetwoAugust 18, 2016 at 6:40 pm

    Dutton is merely playing the well worn first propaganda principle of ‘Shoot the messenger’. It generally works quite well with the MSM.

13. KyranAugust 18, 2016 at 7:28 pm

    This unmitigated liar, this low-life, was interviewed by the intrepid ‘for sale’ on the 11th August. I didn’t see the interview, but recall radio reports on the interview.
    Free the Children NAURU (a face book page) had a particular point to take issue with.
    “Mr Dutton, 2.30 mins into your interview you say that we don’t want to go to “New Zealand, Canada or the United States”. We want to be loud and clear too – YES WE DO WANT TO GO TO ANY OF THOSE COUNTRIES! YES, YES, YES WE DO! We will go tomorrow.”
    They went further about an hour later.
    “This is a public message to every person seeking asylum and every refugee on Nauru. Peter Dutton has publicly said that you don’t want to go to New Zealand, Canada and the United States. (see interview link 2.30 mins Mark). We are asking you to send a brief video to freethechildrennauru@gmail.com to tell him that you do want to go. You can do a group message also.”
    However this low-life disgrace wishes to portray himself, his incompetence (in the second portfolio where he is likely to be voted the worst ever minister), is inarguable.
    Here’s the thing. His childish shrill does not redefine the principle of refoulement, although it may redefine the nature of ‘the force’ used to return refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution.
    Here’s the other thing. A silly notion called ministerial responsibility. This unmitigated liar, this low-life, this incompetent, this fool, this disgrace, is a minister of the ‘government’. Over to you talcum. Tickle his chin and tell him what a good dog he has been. Or do your feckin job.
    “it would be more appropriate to send him in a leaky boat without a compass!”
    He is already in a leaky boat and he’s never had a compass.
    Thank you, Ms Lee. Apologies for the rant. Take care

14. Jennifer Meyer-SmithAugust 18, 2016 at 7:31 pm

    Defamation is the last thing Dud Dutton needs to worry about.

    He better get his defence ready quick for when WE send him to the International Criminal Court for Crimes Against Humanity.

    (Secretly, I think he knows this and that’s why he’s whining.)

15. MichaelAugust 18, 2016 at 7:40 pm

    Restorative justice – asylum and refugee servitude.

16. Jennifer Meyer-SmithAugust 18, 2016 at 7:51 pm

    You’re nicer than me, Michael.

17. stephentardrewAugust 18, 2016 at 8:05 pm

    Defamed? Not a hope sunshine it is the bloody truth you smarmy, deceitful, cruel, torturing, immoral, viscous, compulsive, decrepit, cesspit of a liar. Felt good that.

18. Jennifer Meyer-SmithAugust 18, 2016 at 8:12 pm

    Where are cornlegend and bighead and other Labor diehards, to claim credit for Labor now that Dud Dutton is under friendly/enemy fire?

    Is it because they and their hardline Labor mates know that Labor has NOTHING to be proud of too?

    Must be bad when you sup with the devil.

19. MichaelAugust 18, 2016 at 8:16 pm

    Sorry Jennifer – omitted “supervised” asylum and refugee servitude.

20. my sayAugust 18, 2016 at 8:32 pm

    Thank god that Australians are waking up to this disgusting treatment of Asylum seekers in our care.
    The thing that Dutton is so mad about is his disgusting and cruel treatment is finally being reported ,He knows what pain he has inflicted on people in detention centers ,and claims it is better than dying at sea,
    Being raped ,molested ,and tortured,i know which i would rather ,I cant wait for him to be charged with crimes against humanity

21. Clean livinAugust 18, 2016 at 9:25 pm

    If Duds really believes he has been defamed, then off to court he should go.

    If Duds does not go to court, it demonstrates piss and wind.

    Of course if he actually went to court, the truth may come out, and that would never do!

    Would it Duds?

22. Douglas PyeAugust 18, 2016 at 10:35 pm

    …….. Enter stage left ….. ” Ode to Piss Poor Pete Dutton ” !! … against the Wind gets you Wet Pete … wear it !! … you earned it !! ….. ‘nuf sed ? …..

23. Matters NotAugust 18, 2016 at 10:59 pm

    He better get his defence ready quick for when WE send him to the International Criminal Court for Crimes Against Humanity.

    Perhaps. But then again, he’ll have to get in a queue behind a long list of Ministers and Shadows who (directly and indirectly) supported those policies.

    Anyone remember Gerry Hand? If not, then here’s a reminder.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-11/obrien-the-founding-father-of-australias-indefinite-mandat/3658804

    The genesis of immigration hardlining is often associated with John Howard and his infamous sound byte, in December 2001: “We will decide who comes into this country and on what terms.” Howard cultivated his tough guy image and anti-immigrant credentials and dogwhistled with pride and vigour about boat people, so much so that you’d be forgiven for thinking that he invented mandatory detention or at least saw in its unreviewable and indefinite guises.

    But conveniently for Howard, he did not need to legislate for indefinite mandatory detention. And in some Newtonian way, to seriously look at ending the practice of mandatory detention, we must go back to its beginnings.

    Which brings me back to Keating.

    Until 1992, detention of unauthorised arrivals was a discretionary power. But in May 1992, when Keating was prime minister and Gerry Hand his immigration minister, Hand gave the Second Reading Speech of the Migration Amendment Bill 1992, which made the practice of detention mandatory. Mr Hand said this, about what was then termed “migration custody”:

    The Government is determined that a clear signal be sent that migration to Australia may not be achieved by simply arriving in this country and expecting to be allowed into the community

    As for the origins of the White Australia policy. …

24. PatagonianAugust 19, 2016 at 1:49 am

    Well if Dutton worked in the Sex Offenders Squad, I pity the poor victims who had to deal with such a bloodless, stone-hearted and cruel police officer.

25. Terry2August 19, 2016 at 6:36 am

    One very interesting development is the class action being run in the Supreme Court of Victoria on behalf of Manus Island detainees.

    With the PNG Supreme Court having determined that detention without trial is in breach of the PNG Constitution and that the detention centre must be closed, the question of who is actually responsible for this detention comes into full focus and, of course, Dutton will argue that it is not the responsibility of the Australian government. Finally our courts will be asked to determine what the legalities are and whether these men have been subjected to unlawful imprisonment under Australian law, by Australian authorities or their agents.

    This, in the Australian context, is going to be a very important case as we have no Bill of Rights here and, unlike PNG, our Constitution is silent on matters of human rights.At present it seems that Australian authorities are able to hold people in indefinite detention offshore where no crime has been committed.

    Watch this space.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/manus-detainees-claim-false-imprisonment-in-class-action-20160817-gquusw.html

26. lawrencewinderAugust 19, 2016 at 7:59 am

    Has Do-do Dutton told us exactly when Rabid-the-Hun’s 1200 Syrian refugees are actually arriving? Seems that it’s all of 11 months and only less than 200 have found sanctuary.

27. Barry Thompson.August 19, 2016 at 8:12 am

    The P.M. should relegate Dutton to the backbench and replace him with a Minister who is intelligent and humane. That Minister should then close the offshore detention centres and have the refugees processed in Australia.
    .

    By doing so, The P.M. would incur the wrath of the Conservatives in his Party. So be it. They are working to remove him anyway.

    Mr Turnbull could at least then be remembered as a P.M. who had a shaky start to office but made one courageous and Statesman like decision during his tenure. Who knows? it may even save him.

28. JaqAugust 19, 2016 at 8:29 am

    Barry,
    I bloody doubt it. Talcum is the best description of our PM would sold his soul to the Devil so he could put PM on his resume

29. Jennifer Meyer-SmithAugust 19, 2016 at 8:52 am

    I like your thinking, Barry and suggest a wise person would take that action.

    But Malcolm Muck does not make it into that category of ‘wise person’.

30. KronomexAugust 19, 2016 at 9:33 am

    “Wah, wah, why doesn’t everyone read Rupert? Rupert media never lets truth get in the way of good sleaze. Nasty tricksy lefty media bad because it tells truth, I mean lies about, me. Rupert will hold me and hug and cover me with blanket of bullshit to keep me safe from reality.”

31. Deanna JonesAugust 19, 2016 at 10:24 am

    Peter F*cking Dutton is bound for The Hague, I hope. People are slowly waking up to our tyranny.

    Huge rally at Sydney Town Hall this Saturday at 1 PM. Come out and speak up.

32. Carol TaylorAugust 19, 2016 at 10:37 am

    With due respect to the various police forces, but a major problem with reporting sexual abuse is the trivializing of the issue by the police against the victim and has been seen as a major obstacle in obtaining not just assistance but indeed justice for the victim. In fact, police attitude has been reported as a major deterrent for victims (including victims of child sexual abuse) reporting the matter at all.

    That Dutton was in the Drug Squad in the 1990’s, I would not see as any particular recommendation that he had any training whatsoever in dealing with victims of sexual assault. It is a possibility/probability that he would have come across such victims in the course of his duties, but how he dealt with them or otherwise is perhaps reflected in the way that he now treats the current issue of sexual violence.

33. Matters NotAugust 19, 2016 at 10:54 am

    Dutton isn’t going anywhere. Now has a nice little weekender on the coast.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2948600/Immigration-Minister-Peter-Dutton-moves-Millionaires-Row-splashing-2-3-million-Gold-Coast-waterfront-home.html

    In the ‘Drug Squad’ was he? Must have been all that overtime. But maybe not.

34. Kaye LeeAugust 19, 2016 at 10:57 am

    Andrew Wilkie wrote to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in October 2014 requesting the body investigate and prosecute the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and his 19 cabinet ministers over the treatment of asylum seekers.

    The ICC operates on the principle of individual criminal responsibility, as established in the Nuremburg war crimes trials:

    Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual State … crimes against international law are committed by men, not by abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be enforced.

    For the ICC to initiate a prosecution, it would have to be persuaded that Australia’s prime minister and cabinet have committed grave violations of international law. In order to convict Abbott and his ministers of crimes against humanity, the ICC would need to conclude that the acts alleged by Wilkie were “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.”

    According to the Conversation…

    “the ICC is unlikely to initiate a prosecution against Abbott and his cabinet. Should it do so, the Australian government would surely reject the ICC’s claim of jurisdiction and refuse to volunteer its officials for trial in The Hague. In that case, the ICC would have no enforcement capacity and a conviction could not result in the punishment of the individuals involved.

    Regardless, Wilkie’s initiative is a distinctive means of bringing the Australian government before the court of national and international public opinion. Enhanced international scrutiny is an important, if limited, means of holding Australia to account for its obligations to some of the world’s most vulnerable people.”

    https://theconversation.com/will-the-international-criminal-court-prosecute-australia-for-crimes-against-humanity-33363

    We have to change public opinion to get the politicians to admit that finding a solution for the people currently on Nauru and Manus has nothing to do with “stopping the boats” and the only solution is to either allow them to go to NZ, Canada and the US or bring them here. Stop the deliberate persecution. That is NOT an acceptable method to achieve anything.

35. townsvilleblogAugust 19, 2016 at 11:34 am

    Kaye, you are a prolific writer of genuine good quality, you must be very well educated to be able to absorb and hold all this information, I’m in awe, as usual I agree with most comments and I can find nothing else to say. The comments in general are also of such high quality it is difficult to argue with most. Well done on yet another absolute pearler.

36. Steve Laing - makeourvoiceheard.comAugust 19, 2016 at 11:36 am

    I am still waiting to see evidence that the boats have stopped. Sure, they have stopped arriving in Australia, but that doesn’t mean that they have stopped setting off. For all we know, people smugglers are still taking these people and rather than bringing them to Australia are dumping them in the sea or murdering them on remote islands – and there is certainly evidence for the latter. So to suggest that offshore detention is “saving lives at sea” without providing any evidence that boat departures has significantly decreased, is completely disingenuous.

    And of course the secrecy was never about deterrence (if so they would be spreading the information as widely as possible), but about not letting Australians know about it because of the possible backlash. German death camps were similarly kept out of sight for similar reasons.

    As I’ve said time and time again, the only reason for the brutalising of these people is that the Coalition believes in wins them votes. If it didn’t, they would drop it like a stone. They don’t want a solution, because they know that would remove a very useful vote grabbing weapon from their arsenal.

37. townsvilleblogAugust 19, 2016 at 11:37 am

    The only problem with Dutton on the back bench is that he is well liked in the extreme right wing faction of the Liberal Party and that may cause the breakdown of the government, so I doubt that Turnbull would actually have the political guts to do it.

38. townsvilleblogAugust 19, 2016 at 11:41 am

    Steve, I agree, there is a large percentage of Australians who are dead against any more Islamic immigration. They don’t understand the religion and are afraid of it because of the way the MSM has presented Islamic terrorism, without making the point that these refugees are fleeing the same thing.

39. helvityniAugust 19, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    “… the only reason for the brutalising of these people is that the Coalition believes in wins them votes”.

    Steve Laing, you are right, and for the same reason Labor is not going soften its policy on asylum seekers.

    Majority of Australians agree with this harsh inhumane treatment ,YES, of other human beings.

    People are rightly upset about the barbaric treatment of cattle in some Asian slaughter houses, the horrors of Nauru and Manus get less attention.

40. Carol TaylorAugust 19, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    Townsvilleblog, very much noticed by the opinions of ‘everyday’ people – afraid that Sharia Law will ‘take over the country’, in spite of religious law being very much subservient to the Rule of Law and forbidden by our Constitution. Point out that to bring in Sharia Law would mean a Constitutional Referendum which would have zero chance of success, and people don’t know what you’re talking about..they prefer the simplistic scare campaign. Likewise with halal, when asked what’s wrong with an animal being killed humanely. What’s wrong with (same as the Jews), pork being a forbidden product. What’s wrong with not eating carnivorous animals. And abstaining from alcohol is a lot healthier then Australians who overindulge to the extreme.

    In fact there is not much in everyday Islam to be frightened of at all. Extremism is another issue entirely, but that relates to extremism of any ilk.

41. Sir ScotchMisteryAugust 19, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    So many calls for Abbott et al, the LNP side to face recriminations about Manus and Nauru, but the ALP also pushed for the establishment of an off-shore processing solution. They were “lock-stepped” with the COALition on the issue. Have been for years.

    They need to be held to account as well.

42. Steve Laing - makeourvoiceheard.comAugust 19, 2016 at 2:33 pm

    As you say Helvityni – Labor have been sucked into the same myopic perspective but rather than to try and win votes, more to stop losing them to the latent racists/xenophobes. Their statements that their support of offshore detention is about realism, are actually simply a recognition that they don’t believe they can fight the Coalition backed up by Murdoch’s continual stream of falsehoods, so have just capitulated.

    At least the Malaysian solution was a step in the right direction, but Abbott scuppered that one largely because he NEEDED there to be a boat people issue. It was his one big vote winner, and he knew it. Remember when Morrisson came in and said that advertising arrivals would only encourage more people smugglers, hence their need for “on water secrecy”. I don’t recall that being an issue prior to the 2013 election, with Tony and Scott proudly advertising whenever they could when another boat arrived.

    The Greens were politically naive too – instead of supporting what was not necessarily an ideal solution, at least it was better than the one that Labor were somewhat forced towards, particularly given that the recommendation for the Malaysian solution was from a non-political source.

    Depoliticising the issue needs to be the first step in resolving this problem. I think that Labor and the Greens could do it, but I don’t believe that the Coalition will ever want to – unless there is a serious chance that senior members of the cabinet might be jailed over it. I think Howard knew this, which is why he quietly let them in whilst nobody was paying much attention. Dutton has backed himself into a corner now, so that option is no longer available without a complete loss of face.

43. nexusxyzAugust 19, 2016 at 5:56 pm

    The dim light bulb should have stayed in the police force.

44. Jennifer Meyer-SmithAugust 19, 2016 at 6:31 pm

    Steve Laing,

    the Greens have been accused of wanting a better solution on two salient occasions: Climate Action and Asylum Seeker Processing.

    No doubt mistakes were made everywhere.

    But in the grey uncertainty of trying to find the best solutions under difficult circumstances with an awareness of the longterm solution, I would defend the Greens before Labor and most especially the criminal LNP, any day.

45. Annie BAugust 19, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    Barry Thompson ….. ( August 19, 2016 at 8:12 am ) –

    Agree Turnbull should ‘promote’ ( ?? ) the errant loose cannon, Dutton to the back bench. … It might upset the extreme right in the LNP, but it also might be the only way Turnbull can save his backside – AND more importantly, do the right thing by not only the refugees, but by Australians as well.

    But It remains to be seen. ?
    ……….

    Steve Laing … ( August 19, 2016 at 11:36 am ) ….

    “We have stopped the boats” … would have to be one of the most inane and disingenuous statements ever made by this ( or any ) Government leader or minister. Of course it was the repeated mantra of Abbott, who could be seen flexing his puny muscles, every time he uttered the words – ( which was ad nauseum ).

    The Australian Navy and other intel. most likely do not have ALL the facts of how many poor souls in leaky boats have tried to depart their lands of horror, and have drowned ( or been killed ) in the process in say just the past 2 years alone, and under the Secrecy Act, they would not be permitted to utter a sound anyway ….. yet this government hangs onto the idea of stopping boats, like it was precious gold.

    THAT is sickening, and obvious.

    And the main creep still hanging his hat and his decisions on it all – is the protagonist in this story – Dutton.

    Way past time someone did something with this excuse for a front bencher. Sincerely hope he ends up in jail, but he probably won’t. … Will collect his life-time pension and go on his merry way, spreading hate and vilification wherever he steps.
    …………

    Carol Taylor …. ( August 19, 2016 at 12:17 pm )

    “In fact there is not much in everyday Islam to be frightened of at all. Extremism is another issue entirely, but that relates to extremism of any ilk.”

    Never truer words said ….. and your commentary before that, is something that ALL Aussies should learn about … and consider … and realise – – that their devotion to, and belief in, the MSM ( and conspiracy theorists ), is leading them right down the garden path to a bad end. … Those who spout their fears about sharia law ‘taking over’ and there are many of them, more’s the pity – should learn thoroughly, the points you have put forward.

    Well said Carol ..
    ……..

    I could add a lot of thoughts to this discussion, but will refrain … as it would run into a book.

    Meanwhile – a whole lot of people ( mostly the LNP ) need to wake up and realise their illegal and heinous treatment of refugees WILL be dealt with, perhaps not right now, but in the near future.

    ” Wickedness is its own punishment.”

46. Jennifer Meyer-SmithAugust 19, 2016 at 8:55 pm

    As usual, Annie B, a well considered response.

47. Matters NotAugust 19, 2016 at 10:46 pm

    afraid that Sharia Law will ‘take over the country’,

    It already has in a sense. Notice that the ‘giving of alms’ – one of the five pillars of Islam – has already been adopted by Turnbull. Today he gave a street ‘beggar’ the princely sum of $5. Shock! Horror!

    Where will it end? Perhaps Lucy should be concerned, given that 4 wives is the norm for wealthy adherents to the Islamic faith (and I won’t mention the concubines). Worse still is that Tony is already ahead. First, there was Margie then there was Peta. Who’s next? ? ? ? ? ? ?

    We’ll all be rooned said …

48. HarquebusAugust 20, 2016 at 9:05 am

    Religions abuse the trust of children by brainwashing them with their rubbish. It is the only way they can perpetuate themselves. Target the kids and they are theirs for life.
    I despise all religions and do not consider any as safe.