Today host Karl Stefanovic slams Immigration Minister Peter Dutton for ‘un-Australian’ comments

TODAY show host Karl Stefanovic cut loose on the Today show this morning, lashing Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

TODAY show host Karl Stefanovic has slammed Immigration Minister Peter Dutton for his comments that refugees were illiterate and taking locals jobs as “un-Australian” and demanded he apologise.

Stefanovic, in comments not dissimilar to his Network Ten rival Waleed Aly’s regular editorials on The Project, said Mr Dutton’s views didn’t sit “comfortably” with him.

“Well regardless of politics there is something about [Peter] Dutton’s comments yesterday that didn’t sit well with many Australians, including myself,” Stefanovic said.

He referred to his own grandparents who spent a year in an immigration camp in Wollongong and then built a successful life for their family.

“This country is built on so many pillars — including those who come from far away lands with not much more than hope and the drive for a better life for their family. They have helped make this a better place, they have helped make modern Australia.”

The influential broadcaster accused Mr Dutton of “cherry picking” statistics to support his argument and ignoring the official line from his department. Stefanovic pointed to a 2011 Immigration Department report which said refugees helped fill labour shortages, showed entrepreneurial qualities compared to other migrants and were generally one of “achievement and contribution”.

He then spoke directly to the under-fire minister.

“It’s a cliche what Peter Dutton said yesterday was un-Australian. Given his time again he may have chosen a different way to articulate it. But what’s done is done, but I think he needs to apologise. Not only for those arriving now but for those who come and [have] now gone, who have given blood, sweat and tears and handed down their values to the next generation who are many of our leaders today.”

Mr Dutton caused controversy this week when he made the refugee comments.

“For many people — they won’t be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English,” he told Sky News host Paul Murray.

“For many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it, so there would be huge cost and there’s no sense in sugar-coating that, that’s the scenario.”

Labor’s treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said: “There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Australia who have worked hard, who have educated themselves and their children, and they will be shaking their heads at their minister today in disgust. He owes an apology.”

Mr Dutton repeated his views on the The Ray Hadley Morning Show on 2GB today, insisting that Malcolm Turnbull had been “rock solid” in supporting him.

“I’m not going to stand back,” said the Immigration Minister. “We’ve got a good migration program. The net figure is 200,000 people arriving each year.

“Two-thirds are in the skilled migration program, it’s a good thing and helps us grow. Additionally there are 13,700 refugees. They haven’t been educated, they come from areas of the world where there isn’t education, so we have to provide extra support.”

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the PM was ‘rock solid’ in his support.

He acknowledged that refugees “contribute a lot, there are many success stories, we celebrate all of that” but said many arrive “with no English skills, without basic skills.”

“Almost one in two will never have been in paid work,” he told the radio host.

He claimed Labor wanted to double the number of refugees from 13,700 to 27,000 at a cost of $2.5 billion, while the Greens wanted to make it 50,000, which would cost more than $7 billion.

“They’ve plucked the number out of the air,” he told the radio host. “We increase the number each year but we do it in a managed way.

“We’re among the top three countries in world in helping these people, along with Canada and the US, and that’s a good thing.

He said Mr Shorten was “not able to control his own party, how would he control his borders?”

He accused Labor of offering false hope to people in detention on Manus and Nauru, adding: “I will get people off those islands and back to their country or provide third country settlements, but not bring them here.

“The Left now is in control of Mr Shorten and it’s a bad thing for our country.”

Mr Dutton said not one person had drowned under the Coalition.

“The boats will not recommence under our government because we are united. You need a prime minister who can secure our borders and keep our community safe. Labor cannot tick those boxes.”

He said Mr Turnbull “was rock solid yesterday when I spoke to him privately on the phone and when I spoke to him before that”.

Asked what he thought of MP Andrew Wilkie’s call for his resignation this morning, Mr Dutton replied: “Well, that’s a body blow. Sarah Hanson-Young calls for me to be sacked twice a week.”

Originally published as Today host Karl Stefanovic slams Immigration Minister Peter Dutton for ‘un-Australian’ comments