Refugees, the CFMEU, the DIBP, investor visas – who are the real criminals?
Considering Peter Dutton’s last public attempt at humour wasn’t received so well, joking about “Cape York time” and “water lapping at your door”, he was a brave man to give it another go, this time speaking in televised Question Time.
If anything, it was worse. In fact, the best description would be just terribly sad.
He was so excited he even smiled when Julia Banks delivered her Dorothy Dixer to segue into what he clearly thought was a very clever little skit he had put together – and I can pretty much guarantee he made it up all by himself.
The questioner asked the Minister to outline the steps that the government has taken to remove dangerous criminal gang members from our society and what are the consequences of not taking action.
Dutton spends a few seconds saying we have gotten rid of lots of bikies and we all know bikies are the strong arm of the CFMEU before leading into his joke which was about Rudd, Gillard and Shorten all on a building site.
As he rambled on, the only one on his front bench who tried to smile (even though appearing not quite sure where it was going), was Barnaby Joyce, with Josh Frydenberg, in his usual way, looking around at others to get his lead before he offered too much support.
Eventually Anthony Albanese called a point of order on “weirdness”.
I would actually like to ask Dutton the same question asked by the member for Chisholm but about the criminal networks that have been uncovered in immigration, customs and border security who have allegedly done far worse things than attend stop work meetings.
An independent review identified “systemic shortfalls in both the Customs and Immigration organisations, punctuated by several high-profile failings”, saying that “neither organisation had adequately developed the capabilities or professionalisation in the workforce expected of a modern border management organisation. Both organisations had been cited for the lack of accountability amongst senior leaders.”
“A lack of management and leadership at the border, an inability to properly allocate resources to the highest priorities, and gaps in processes and direction contributed to a climate in which corruption and integrity shortfalls were allowed to develop,” the report said. “Failure to consistently vet individuals – both initially and during the course of their service – created a culture with a lack of accountability across the workforce, from senior leaders to individual Customs and Immigration officers. Many officers did not have security clearances.”
An important realisation, according to the report, was the “strong link between integrity and organisational capability.” The investigation also highlighted possible corruption issues involving Customs officers.
An in-depth investigation of corruption at Sydney Airport found there was an increasing threat of corrupt compromise and infiltration by organised-crime groups.
Customs prosecuted some of its officers in 2012-13 on charges of abuse of office, bribery and conspiracy over an import racket through Sydney Airport involving steroids and other drugs, which operated in 2007. A report found they had used their inside knowledge to thwart airport surveillance systems.
Eight Customs officers faced criminal charges arising from Operation Heritage, including three officers who faced charges relating to intentional inaccuracy in their evidence to the Integrity Commissioner. Another breach in workforce integrity and corruption was reported in Operation Myrrh, an investigation into illicit drug use by certain Customs officers.
There remain more than 100 referred Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) corruption case investigations.
In June 2015, just prior to the integration of the DIBP, the secretary released a document with integrity measures. It states:
“Our work and the information we hold is valuable to organised crime syndicates, who actively try to circumvent border controls, reduce border integrity and threaten national security, and our border management activities are a significant target for criminal groups who have strong financial and other motives to infiltrate border protection agencies across the globe. Our integrity must be of the highest order and our behaviour consistent with the laws we enforce.
To perform effectively in this environment, it is critical that the Department secures and maintains the confidence of government, industry, the law enforcement community (both domestic and international) and the wider community. Central to this goal are the professionalism and integrity of staff, contractors, consultants and secondees and the ability of the Department, at an organisational level, to prevent and counter internal corruption and misconduct.”
In September, the Productivity Commission’s study of Australia’s migrant intake identified two classes of high-end business visa – the significant investor visa and the premium investor visa – which it says are effectively offering an easy shortcut to Australian residency for rich foreigners and exposing Australia to the real risk of foreign money laundering.
The commission warns that the relatively lax criteria in the investor classes mean Australia is effectively handing out residency, with inadequate compliance rules, to those who can pay.
During the Productivity Commission’s investigation into the Australian investor visas, watchdog Transparency International warned that “no level of screening and vetting can provide complete assurance as to the integrity of the source of funds accessed by the applicants for those visas.”
The RAND review also warned that the Australian Federal Police “did not have the resources to conduct criminal investigations into all public service agencies” and so were outsourcing their investigations to the agencies themselves.
And it warned that immigration “emphasised visa cancellations over criminal investigations and focused too much on ancillary activities over core investigation business (such as the successful prosecution of high-value targets)”.
But hey, they stopped the boats. Now back to those CFMEU thugs.
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7 comments
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kerri
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Percy
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Exoplanet
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John Ward
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Salstarat
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James Cook
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John Ward
Return to home pageKaye Lee you have just come up with a brilliant strategy for the ALP!
They should ask Dutton to outline how many refugees are currently under arrest, in prison, involved in bikie gangs, preventing building works to go ahead etc. etc. etc.
Dutton could so easily be stumped if asked, in a straight faced and genuine manner, to justify with facts and figures, the charges he lays on refugees!
Oh! That’s right! Labor approve of offshore gulags for innocent victims of both war and people smugglers.
They should have Deported the Wanker when he CANCELLED his own VISA
If you’re on twitter, please tweet this:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/08/refugee-deported-to-nauru-had-arrived-in-australia-by-cruise-thinking-he-had-valid-visa?CMP=share_btn_tw
Immigration and customs have been selling Australian documents and smuggling asylum seekers into australia by air.
None of their clients have spent an hour in custody. The real smugglers are living and prospering here. They can’t run this scam with out protection from further up the food chain.
meanwhile the moment a prisoner from Manus gets to the USA or Canada the ‘ by water’ smugglers are back in business; because three years in the camps gets you to a safe country . These deterrents only work if no one gets off the islands alive.
My God! Don’t give up your day job, Dutton … you despicable, loathsome creature. You’re about as funny as a uranium enema! The ONLY things you can do with any level of conviction is cold blooded, ruthlessly callous inhumanity and dumbed down, inane idiocy! The Lying Nasty Party are the worst, most heinous pack of psychopaths in living memory! Always targeting the poorest, most vulnerable people in the country despite every single member of the LNP being the worst, most self entitled and totally corrupt leaners this country has ever seen! This is a government that is now internationally condemned, reviled and despised – the ONLY government in the world that has been loudly criticised by the UN and every other humanity and charitable organisation within Australia and around the world; the only government that, without one iota of compassion, unconscionably delegates savage torture, trauma and even murder of defenceless asylum seekers and fosters, encourages and condones the torture and traumatisation of their little children who are locked up in the LNP’s fascist, off-shore concentration camps – out of sight, out of mind! Locked up in an atmosphere of vile secrecy, an undemocratic and suspicious hate-filled environment that lacks transparency. Locked up INDEFINITELY without charge and no hope for a happy future or even to expect to be provided with decent medical treatment or due care! This is a government that is so cruel, so savage they have gone BEYOND the most basic levels of humanity, breaking EVERY law and rule in relation to the Universal Laws for Human Rights in relation to LEGAL asylum seekers … and let me point out that there is NO SUCH THING … repeat, NO SUCH THING … as an ILLEGAL asylum seeker – never was, never will be! Dutton, you, Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott, Cory Bernardi are the most unspeakable bastards in a cabinet OVERFLOWING with the worst excuses for human beings this country has ever seen.
I agree Salstarat. Don’t forget though, they get away with this because of the complicity of the MSM!
Our “Three Star General” who has now been promoted to head of Army as his reward to the LNP, will plead the ‘Nuremberg defence’, “I was only following orders”.
When Governments politicise their military arm and militarise their political arm, we are in danger of secret police and disappearances Argentine style, through the available detention centres.
Under this government we have just seen, indefinite imprisonment re-established by ASIO decree.
I fear for our future.
Fascist governments use fear to maintain power, They demonstrate disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – fear of enemies and the need for security, means the people are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.”
The people tend to look the other way from long incarceration of prisoners and detainees.
By way of back ground.
CIA and MI5 to continued to be part of the international Anti communist cold war.
By 1948, the governments of the United States of America and Great Britain secretly agreed to end their efforts to bring the practitioners of Nazi terror to justice. Both Chifley and Menzies knew they must be part of the international community by developing ways of escape for these war criminals became part of Cold War’s real politik.
Scores of lesser known Nazi collaborators and fascists became new citizens of the United States, England, Canada, South Africa and Australia.
The secret political police in Australia, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (AS.I.O.), knew that these Nazi’s had imprisoned, tortured and murdered thousands in the name of fascism.
Too little attention is given to the long-standing complicity between A.S.I.O., and leading Liberal Ministers from Holt to Greenwood to deploy “Captive nations” organisations which arose in the early 1950′s were largely under the captive leadership of former Nazis who owed their “respectability” to the silence of AS.I.O. and “understanding” anti-Communist politicians and senior public servants.
Retrospective law is always the most serious threat democracy and freedom which we fight each and every day. Now we See the LNP ripping up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by denying the specific articles, below.
I consider this proposal to be a crime against humanity.
Article 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 13. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14. (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
We have a responsibility to assist those persons and communities who are now undergoing traumas and who arrive dispossessed and homeless, powerless and vulnerable. They deserve our help and support, not contempt or hostility.
As for Temporary Protection Visas that refuse family reunion, causes women and children to come by boat and risk the fate of SIEV X when 353 died under John Howard’s TPVs .
Most importantly, there is a moral reason why we should support the refugee cause. We must maintain understanding and support for the most vulnerable in our community and support for principles of justice and human rights, the absence of which in society are the fundamental root cause of refugee outflows. These principles demand our support, if not eternal vigilance.
This is an issue of doing the correct thing because it is correct to do so.