PM stands by Dutton as backlash mounts

THE opposition has joined the growing backlash against Peter Dutton's climate change gaffe, with Labor leader Bill Shorten slamming the remarks.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton continues to cop flak over a joke he made about rising sea levels.

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has stuck by his immigration minister, praising him for his work on the refugee crisis, as a backlash grows against a joke made about nations threatened by climate change.

PETER Dutton was recorded on Friday joking about the plight of Pacific island nations facing rising seas from climate change, quipping that a late-starting meeting was running to "Cape York time".