Peter Dutton sorry for ‘boomgate’ joke over rising sea levels

Peter Dutton apologises for his joke about rising sea levels inundating Pacific islands as PNG’s leader slams the minister.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, right, has apologised to anyone offended by his joke about rising sea levels caught on a mic while talking to Scott Morrison, left, and PM Tony Abbott.

Peter Dutton has apologised to “anyone who’s taken offence” to his apparent joke about rising sea levels inundating the homes of Pacific islanders as Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister joined the chorus of those condemning the immigration minister.

Indigenous and Pacific Island leaders have lined up to criticise Mr Dutton, whose gaffe was caught on camera on Friday ahead of a meeting with ethnic and religious leaders about refugee resettlement, describing it as “vulgar” and something that espoused “soft bigotry”.

PNG leader Peter O’Neill today described Mr Dutton’s comments as “most unfortunate”.

“People are being forced off the land where their families have lived for thousands of years,” he said.

“Connection to the land is very important for Pacific people so having to leave their land is heartbreaking for many people.”

Mr Dutton said he was “disappointed” it had distracted from a “very good” policy announcement – Australia’s decision to permanently resettle 12,000 refugees fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq.

“Obviously it was a private conversation, I should have realised the mic was there and didn’t, it was directly behind me. But I made a mistake, I apologise to anyone who’s taken offence to it, it was a light hearted discussion with the PM and I didn’t mean any offence to anyone,” Mr Dutton said on Sky News’s Australian Agenda program.

“If people have taken offence then they should accept my apology. I’m disappointed it allowed for a distraction from what was a very good policy announcement.

“I think it demonstrated the Prime Minister’s leadership qualities to accept the recommendation of the National Security Committee and 12,000 people, 12,000 lives that effectively we’ve saved that will be a significant part of the Australian population into the future. That should have been the story of the week and I’m sorry that I distracted from that.”

Asked if the media should bear some of the blame for broadcasting the “private discussion”, Mr Dutton replied: “I’ll let the critics and the experts make all of those comments and they can make that decision.

“From my perspective, I wanted the day to be around the leadership discussion that we had, the people within the room, the 40 leaders from the Syrian community, every one of them were full of praise for the government and the decision that we’d taken. I didn’t want to distract from that, I’m sorry that I did.”

As the ethnic and religious leaders started meandering in to Parliament House on Friday for the meeting, Mr Dutton suggested to Tony Abbott that their guests were running on “Cape York Time” – an apparent allusion to the unpunctual lifestyle in remote far north Queensland.

The Prime Minister, who had just returned from climate talks with Pacific leaders in Papua New Guinea, chuckled back: “We had a bit of that up in Port Moresby.”

Mr Dutton replied to his leader: “Time doesn’t mean anything when you’re about to be, you know, have water lapping at your door.”

Mr Abbott began to laugh loudly, but was silenced by Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, who pointed out the microphone. “There’s a boom up there.”

Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek accused Mr Dutton of apologising “for being caught” and said it shouldn’t “at all” be the end of the matter.

“He should be apologising to Pacific leaders and to Aboriginal Australians in Cape York. He seems to have insulted millions of people in one go and he hasn’t apologised for that,” Ms Plibersek told the ABC’s Insiders program.

She said Mr Dutton’s initial reasoning that it was a “private conversation” he shouldn’t have to account for was “extraordinary”.

“What he should have to account for is that with the Prime Minister just back from the Pacific Island Forum where Pacific leaders were saying they face an existential threat right now,” Ms Plibersek said.

“Peter Dutton thinks that’s a joke and Tony Abbott laughs along with it. Not the fact that they were caught, that’s not the problem. The problem is that they don’t care that these Pacific Island nations are facing an existential threat.”

Bill Shorten said the footage of Mr Dutton and the Prime Minister was “astounding” and the comments were “unacceptable”, especially for a cabinet minister and “not some bloke in the outer at the footy”.

“We depend upon his skills to present Australia in the right light,” the Opposition Leader said.

“Mr Abbott now has to make a choice - are those sort of views the views you want of cabinet ministers in this country? Does he choose Mr Dutton or does he choose the Australian people? You can’t choose both.”

Mr Abbott yesterday defended Mr Dutton, saying the Immigration Minister should be remembered for something else he did during the week.

“He masterminded the plan to bring 12,000 needy people to this country,” Mr Abbott said.

Later in Perth, where he was campaigning ahead of next weekend’s Canning by-election next Saturday, Mr Abbott was again questioned about what he has called a “lame joke”.

He reiterated his comments about Mr Dutton’s work involving the refugees and, when asked if he thought it was funny, said: “It is not about me.

“We made a decision that reflects Australia at its best and then we have a subsequent Twitter storm which, if I may say so, reflects Australia at its worst.”

Additional reporting: AAP