Talking Point: Dog whistle on migrants a new low in debate

JOHN MARTINKUS: Australia’s Immigration Minister has shown he does not really like immigrants.

Migrants were a major part of the workforce that built the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric scheme

MALCOLM Turnbull to Peter Dutton: “Peter, here is a dog and this is a whistle. Blow the whistle and see what the dog does.”

“Yes sir,” replies the loyal Immigration Minister. He blows. The dog jumps and starts barking.

“See it is simple isn’t it Peter.” says Malcolm.

“Yes sir. I blow the whistle and the dog starts barking.”

“Exactly,” says Malcolm. “Now do it again.” Peter blows and the dog goes crazy.

OK, so the above exchange is fictional, but I reckon it is really close to the truth with what happened this week.

When Immigration Minister Peter Dutton went on Sky Television and proceeded to blame refugees for being a potential burden on the Australian taxpayer he was blowing a very loud whistle.

For Liberal strategists one can only think their reasoning was that if they make the average voter think all his or her problems – financial, personal and societal – are the result of those refugees, then they will vote for the Coalition because it stands for no more refugees.

“Repeat it and they will come” must be the thinking behind this latest dog whistle.

No matter that Australia is a nation populated and built by successive waves of migration – from the initial settling by convicts and their overlords through to the waves of free migrants and the massive post-World War II immigration programs that resulted in Australia’s population more than doubling, immigrants have been a core part of our society.

Greeks, Italians, Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Chinese, Afghans and, yes, English, Irish and Scottish have all made their contribution to our society as it is today.

Unless you are prepared to pull 12-hour shifts driving a cab, working at a service station or an all-night eatery, then you should pull your racist head in and accept that immigrants have always contributed to Australian society.

Think about it. The largest infrastructure projects in our nation’s history have been driven by migrant labour.

There is a reason why the “Ghan” railway from Adelaide to Darwin is called that name – it’s named after the Afghan cameleers who opened access to Central Australia more than a century ago.

Similarly, who built the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme? Who built the massive hydropower schemes in Tasmania’s remote wilderness?

Who built and maintained the roads and rail through Australia’s vast spaces in the 1950s and 1960s that have led to our current prosperity?

Immigrants all – many who came here with no money and no English language and fleeing the debris of a Europe shattered by war.

I used to live in a dilapidated terrace house in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. The owners were Greek and lived next door.

Rather than join the exodus of wealthy middle-class Australians moving to the suburbs, he had bought a row of terraces for a song in the 1970s. He was an entrepreneur who these days would be sitting on a mountain of property wealth, but what did he do? He was a gardener.

He worked, saved his money, bought cheap houses and rented them out to poor students and workers.

He contributed to his adopted society. That is what migrants do. They build themselves from nothing and provide opportunities for all.

Have a look around.

Every time you catch a cab, go to a convenience store, go out for Asian takeaway chances are the person serving you is not first generation Australian.

Unless you are prepared to pull 12-hour shifts driving a cab, working at a service station or an all-night eatery, then you should pull your racist head in and accept that immigrants have always contributed to Australian society, and often in roles that Australians choose not to perform because the work is below them. This is still the case today.

Australia’s Immigration Minister has shown he does not really like immigrants.

What an inappropriate job for someone who believes all immigrants are only greedily eyeing our rather niggardly welfare system.

I think he is in the wrong job, but again maybe that is why Malcolm put him there.

“Here Peter take the whistle … blow it.”

John Martinkus is a freelance journalist who has reported from East Timor, Indonesia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Originally published as Talking Point: Dog whistle on migrants a new low in debate