Shorten says Immigration Minister left off national security list because Turnbull doesn’t like him

AMID reports Malcolm Turnbull has been smacked down by the UN, claims emerge that things have got ‘personal’ between him and his Immigration Minister.

Question Time today in the House of Representatives, Federal Parliament, Canberra. L to R: Peter Dutton, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Smith.

IMMIGRATION Minister Peter Dutton has the backing of a strong and probably unwanted voice calling for him to be seated permanently at the government’s top national security policy table.

Mr Dutton was at today’s meeting of the National Security Committee of Cabinet but only as an occasional member.

But he has the backing of Labor leader Bill Shorten, who wants him to get fulltime membership.

And Mr Shorten said he was concerned by suggestions Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had excluded Mr Dutton because of a “personal dislike”.

Mr Dutton was a diehard backer of former prime minister Tony Abbott, who made him Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

He was a member of the national security group under Mr Abbott, but Prime Minister Turnbull has said he will be called on only when necessary.

“I can assure you that Mr Dutton is intimately engaged with all of our linked discussions about security, where they affect the Border Protection and Immigration portfolio,” Turnbull told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

The NSC has the power to make decisions without reference to the full cabinet and this is the first time Mr Turnbull has been a member.

He chairs it, while deputy chair is Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss.

The other permanent members are Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Attorney-General George Brandis, Defence Minister Marise Payne, and Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan also attends as Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Counter-Terrorism.

Mr Shorten has previously said the man he calls “poor old Immigration Minister Peter Dutton swinging in the breeze”.

He has said it was a measure of Mr Turnbull’s regard for Mr Dutton that a minister with “border protection” in his title was not part of national security deliberations.

Today Mr Shorten said: “Under Labor, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection will sit on the National Security Committee,” he said..

“As Opposition Leader, I’ve ensured my Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Richard Marles sits on my National Security Committee.

“Malcolm Turnbull’s decisions and the reasons behind them are a matter for him but I’d be concerned if he is letting his personal dislike for Peter Dutton influence important decisions like this.”

Meanwhile, Mr Turnbull has reportedly been embarrassed by a dressing down by the United Nations over Australia’s immigration and border protection policy.

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki Moon used the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur to “express concern” over Australia’s offshore detention centres and conditions there, Fairfax reports and appealing for Mr Turnbull to reconsider.

News.com.au has this morning revealed through a whistleblower the extraordinary allegation that rapes, mass murder and brutal treatment of people in Papua New Guinea is not being properly reported by the Australian Federal Police in order to prop up our offshore detention policy, which includes a PNG detention camp at Manus Island.

Originally published as Shorten says Immigration Minister left off national security list because Turnbull doesn’t like him