Federal election 2016: Greens refugee policy to cost $7bn, Dutton’s office says

Peter Dutton’s office has released cost estimates of the Greens and Labor immigration policies.

Australian Greens Leader Dr Richard Di Natale, left, and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who said she was appalled by what she described as the Peter Dutton’s scaremongering.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s office has released figures showing that the Greens’ refugee policy would cost $7 billion over four years.

The figure comes as the Greens and Labor label Mr Dutton as “xenophobic” and call for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to reject comments he made last night about refugees taking Australian jobs.

Mr Dutton’s office estimates that if the Greens proposal of taking 50,000 humanitarian refugees annually was adopted it would cost about $7 billion over four years, while Labor’s proposal to increase the intake to 27,000 would cost about $2.3 billion over the same period.

The Coalition supports the existing intake of 13,750, which rises to 18,750 in 2018-19, with a one-off extra intake of 12,000 Syrians this year.

Mr Dutton told Sky News last night that many refugees “won’t be numerate or literate in their own language let alone English”.

He said that would present a difficulty for Labor and the Greens, because the refugees would be competing for jobs in industries in which affiliated unions such as the CFMEU operate.

“These people would be taking Australian jobs. There’s no question about that,” Mr Dutton said.

“And 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 a huge cost, and there’s no sense in sugar-coating that. That’s the scenario.”

Mr Dutton said it was “nonsense” for Labor and the Greens to claim that they had sufficient control over Australia’s borders to limit refugee numbers to 27,000 or 50,000.

“The UN has told us thatthere are some 58 million people who are displaced and would seek to come to a country like Australia, so the thought that you can somehow turn the tap on and off and that the people smugglers will be happy with the profit out of 50,000 but not out of 60,000 or 600,000 is complete nonsense,” Mr Dutton said.

Speaking on the campaign trail in Cairns, Mr Turnbull highlighted Australia’s record as “the most successful multicultural society in the world” but emphasised the expense involved in resettling refugees properly.

“The reason we are successful is because we invest an enormous amount of money into the settlement services to make sure that our refugees who come to Australia get the language instruction, all the support to enable them to integrate into Australian society and move into employment and take up those opportunities,” Mr Turnbull said.

“It’s very expensive, we don’t begrudge the money, but it’s important to get it right.”

Queensland Liberal backbencher Ian Macdonald agreed with Mr Dutton that the more people coming into Australia “without permanent employment prospects” put pressure on the nation’s jobs.

But he said he could not think of a company that would employ an illiterate refugee over an Australian.

“The fact of the matter of course is the more people who come into Australia without permanent employment prospects do put pressure on the employment market in Australia,” he said.

“In Cairns and Townsville there is a real unemployment problem at the moment and we have to be cautious of how we deal with that. Some of Mr Dutton’s comments are matters of fact.”

Senator Macdonald said it was the “unregulated flow” of migrants or “illegal” refugees that “cause problems”, despite Australia no longer resettling those asylum-seekers who came to the country by boat.

Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles said Dutton’s comments were offensive and xenophobic.

“Refugees have come to this country, have made their mark, have given their contribution and in the process created thousands upon thousands of Australian jobs,” he said.

“It is quite the opposite in terms of taking jobs away. That’s where Peter Dutton went last night, and that’s precisely what Malcolm Turnbull must reject today, and if he doesn’t he has absolutely failed that test.

“We ought to call this out for what this is ... Peter Dutton was trying to fan the flames of debate ... this was very ugly indeed,” he said.

Former Labor immigration minister Chris Bowen called on Mr Dutton to apologise.

“There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Australia who have worked hard, educated themselves and their children and they will be shaking their heads ... in disgust,” he told ABC Radio.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said she was appalled by what she described as the minister’s scaremongering.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop defended Mr Dutton, saying it is “self-evident” that the cost of resettling humanitarian refugees is very high.

“It was costed at over $700 million just for 12,000 Syrian refugees, so Peter Dutton is pointing out the self-evident fact that it costs a great deal of money to settle people in Australia,” Ms Bishop told Sky News from Vienna.

Ms Bishop said the Greens, who are calling for the humanitarian refugee intake to be lifted to 50,000, never had to present a budget or account for the costs of their policies.

“It’s just another example where they are so out of touch with the reality,” she said.

“We bring in 13,750 people, those on humanitarian visas in each year.

“In addition the 12,000 Syrians that we promised to resettle, and then that figure of 13,750 will increase to about 18,750, but it has to be paid for, and Peter Dutton is talking about the very high cost in doing so.”

Asked about Mr Dutton’s comments on literacy and numeracy, Ms Bishop said the costs of resettlement included education costs.

“Teaching people English because they speak another language — I mean these are all a significant cost and we shouldn’t run away from it.

“That’s a fact, and Peter Dutton was making a self-evident point that there are significant costs involved in ensuring that people are able to contribute to Australian society.

“That is that they can speak our language, that they can get a job, that they can make a contribution.

Ms Bishop said Mr Dutton’s comment about refugees taking Australian’s jobs simply highlighted the fact that the government wants refugees to have jobs.

“If they are going to be in Australia we don’t want them to be on welfare, we want them to be contributing and so therefore, we would want them in jobs,” she said.