Peter Dutton discussed migration cuts with departmental bosses

Top bureaucrats flew to Brisbane last year to discuss migration levels with the minister. They were then sent away with a task.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Picture: AAP

The Immigration Department head and the former Australian Border Force chief flew to Brisbane in January last year for a meeting with Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton about his plan to cut the permanent migration intake by 20,000, during which Mr Dutton agreed to canvass the proposal with cabinet colleagues.

The Weekend Australian understands current Home Affairs boss Michael Pezzullo and former ABF commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg were sent away by the then immigration minister after the meeting to model the proposed change — including how many people should come out of the skilled ­migration scheme and how many should be cut from the family-­reunion stream.

Mr Dutton agreed to raise the matter with cabinet colleagues.

The revelation will add weight to suggestions the Prime Minister misspoke when he described a story broken by The Australian this week as “absolutely untrue”.

The report revealed Mr Dutton had raised the possibility of the cut from 190,000 migrants a year to 170,000 with cabinet colleagues and it had been rejected by Mr Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison.

In February last year, Mr Dutton was given a document by his department after the Pezzullo-Quaedvlieg meeting, setting out options regarding cuts to the skilled category and the family-­reunion target.

The Weekend Australian has been told that on March 9, 2017, a joint meeting of the national ­security and expenditure review committees was held in Sydney where the question was put as to whether the permanent migration intake of 190,000 should be ­retained and accepted. But, some sources say, it was at a discussion of ministers and the Prime Minister before that meeting that the 170,000 proposition was put.

Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs Michael Pezzullo. Picture: Kym Smith

Three ministers at the meeting where Mr Dutton is said to have put the proposal to Mr Turnbull in front of other ministers have told The Weekend Australian that Mr Dutton verbally put the proposal in a meeting. One recalls that the meeting occurred in the cabinet room in Sydney early last year.

The ministers recall that Mr Turnbull rejected the proposal.

The Australian has never reported the meeting where the proposal was put by Mr Dutton was a cabinet meeting or a cabinet committee meeting, although one source present said they thought during the discussion that the issue should go to full cabinet.

Asked on Tuesday if Mr Dutton had canvassed lowering the immigration levels, Mr Turnbull said: “The story on the front page of The Australian today about migration and the cabinet is completely untrue. It’s false. It’s completely untrue.”

His deputy, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, backed Mr Turnbull on Tuesday, telling Sky News: “I am not aware of any such proposal. I am a member of the cabinet, I am a member of the ­national security committee and I don’t recall that proposal at all so I can only assume that the story is not true.”

The Prime Minister’s office briefed journalists on Tuesday through a “source”, saying: “There has never been a proposal put to cabinet, ERC or NSC. Nobody will ever find a document because it does not exist. Nor was it discussed at those meetings.”

Mr Dutton’s office yesterday declined to comment on the meeting with Mr Pezzullo and Mr Quaedvlieg or what was decided.

Former Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg.

Earlier this week, he said: “I’m not going into comments on discussions and who said what and who was in the meetings and the rest of it.

“I don’t as a policy, and I never have in 17 years, commented on what’s been discussed in cabinet or subcommittees or whatever it might be, or gatherings of cabinet colleagues, but as I say ... of course there are discussions that take place around what the figures should be, the benefits of different aspects of migration. There’s obviously a debate about congestion and about housing affordability and the government’s alive to all of those concerns.”

Mr Turnbull clarified his comments on Wednesday, saying: “What was initially said in media, I think in The Australian, that there had been a submission brought to cabinet by Peter Dutton to reduce the ceiling of permanent migration ... and that he had been rolled by me and Scott Morrison ... that is untrue. If you are asking me do ministers discuss migration and migration levels and the composition of the migration program, well of course we do.’’

Former prime minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday accused Mr Turnbull of being “tricky” and acting like a “clever barrister” in his denials.

The Australian revealed yesterday that, following the knock-back of his 170,000 proposal, Mr Dutton had managed to achieve a slowdown in immigration using measures other than resetting the intake “ceiling”.

Asked yesterday to deny any conversation with Mr Dutton about lowering the immigration rate by 20,000, a spokesman for Mr Turnbull said: “The Prime Minister addressed these matters yesterday.”