Federal election 2016: Peter Dutton pushes tighter migrant checks

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has pledged to spend $100m scrutinising foreign nationals’ visa applications.

A new ‘Visa Risk Assessment Capability’ will be created inside in the Department of Border Protection. Picture: Bradley Cooper

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has kicked off the campaign with a rousing defence of the Turnbull government’s record on border security and a pledge to spend $100 million scrutinising visa applications.

In the Coalition’s first big-­ticket spend of the campaign, Mr Dutton sought to leverage what the government considers its key strength — success in stopping the asylum-seekers trade — by ­announcing a new layer of checks, this time for migrants coming through the front door.

A new “visa risk assessment capability’’ will be created inside in the Department of Border Protection.

According to Mr Dutton, who was due to make the announcement in a speech last night, the new system would “consolidate’’ immigration and border data, ­enabling officials to more easily identify security risks before they grant visas.

“Decision-makers will not have to go searching for the information,’’ Mr Dutton said. ‘’It will become an integral part of their processing system.’’

The Australian understands the new system will link up the law ­enforcement and intelligence databases of the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Federal Police and other agencies.

The announcement came after Bill Shorten was obliged to shrug-off claims of disunity within Labor ranks over the fraught issue of offshore processing.

Labor’s candidate for the seat of Melbourne, Sophie Ismail, this week broke with party policy, calling publicly for the closure of the asylum-seeker processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island.

The outburst forced Mr Shorten to reiterate Labor’s support for offshore processing and boat turn-backs, controversially introduced by the Coalition government.

“Our candidates are good candidates,’’ he said. “I’m proud of my united Labor team but I’m clear what the policy is, as is my team.’’

Mr Dutton said that traditionally visa checks had focused on ­immigration risks; that is whether applicants were likely to overstay or violate the terms of their visas by working.

The new checks would peer more closely at the applicant’s criminal and security profile, he said. “(Decision-makers) need to know much more about visa applicants and whether they pose a threat to the community.’’

Funding for the visa risk assessment capability, which comes in at $99.2m, was allocated in last week’s budget, but not announced.

The minister said the new system would facilitate legitimate visa applications by streamlining the process.

Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Dutton hammered Labor on border protection, an issue that proved pivotal in the Coalition’s 2013 campaign.

He said under Labor more than 50,000 asylum-seekers in more than 800 boats pitched up on Australia’s shores, resulting in an $11 billion hit to the budget. “Unsurprisingly then, Australians lost confidence in the integrity of our borders and in our migration program,’’ Mr Dutton said.

Since coming to office, the ­Coalition had turned back 26 boats carrying 710 people, he said.