Amanda Vanstone accuses Daniel Andrews government of playing ‘race card’ on gang issues

Amanda Vanstone has hit out at Daniel Andrews for denying the existence of an African-Australian gang issue in Victoria.

1/7/16. AFL round table — Amanda Vanstone Pic: Keryn Stevens

Former immigration minister Amanda Vanstone has accused the Andrews government of playing the “race card” in denying the existence of an African-Australian gang issue in Victoria, as she calls for measured commentary on the issue.

The Howard Government minister said “it was clear” there was a gang issue unfolding in Victoria which had to be acknowledged, but it was equally important to highlight that it was concentrated in a tiny proportion of the African-Australian community.

“To deny there are some gangs working together there is just crazy stuff but to characterise and not recognise that it’s a very small part of the population is at the same time not helpful,” Ms Vanstone said.

Her comments were aimed at the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who last week hit back at commentary on the issue from the Prime Minister, by saying that Melbourne’s restaurants were full and residents weren’t concerned.

She said the Premier had “extrapolated” on the Prime Minister’s comments.

“There is clearly a problem in Victoria but how widespread it is another matter. But it’s not true that it’s [happening] all through Melbourne in every restaurant … I think that’s an extraordinary extrapolation on what the Prime Minister said,” she said.

“Saying that there’s a gang problem in Victoria and there are some gangs which are particularly based around particular ethnicities, we can’t get to the point where we can’t say that.”

Ms Vanstone held the position of Immigration Minister from 2003 until January 2007, during which time around 11,500 Sudanese immigrants came to Australia.

Liberal Kevin Andrews took over the portfolio in January 2007, and weeks into the job sought permission from the Howard Cabinet to slash the intake of Sudanese refugees, citing concerns about crime and gang activity.

Her comments on the gang issue come after a firey two weeks in which state and federal parliamentarians have clashed over questions of the existence and magnitude of Victorian gang crime.

They also come after Immigration Minister Peter Dutton ignited a firestorm in January when he said that gang violence had made Victorians too afraid to go out for dinner.

Mr Turnbull last week urged Mr Andrews to acknowledge community fears that gang-related activity in a small subset of Victoria’s African-Australian community was spiralling out of control.

But the Premier, at the time, dismissed his comments.

“I’d respectfully say the Prime Minister doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” the Premier said. “Melbourne has the best restaurants in the country and they’re full … I don’t think I can offer any further comment than that.”

A spokesman for the Premier on Wednesday declined to comment on Ms Vanstone’s comments.

Ms Vanstone said it was apparent that there some small pockets of the community which were battling unique integration issues, which required targeted attention and support from police, as well as other services to assist welfare and integration.

But she said the problem had been compounded by attempts by the Premier and state ministers to howl down high profile intervention from federal MPs on the issue as “dog whistling.”

“The PM spoke the truth about there being a gang problem in Melbourne and some people feeling apprehensive and frightened, but to blow that up and to misrepresent that as being a statement about every African in Melbourne is in fact using the race card in a abhorrent way,” Ms Vanstone said. “The PM spoke the truth and his enemies then use the race card.”

Ms Vanstone defended the country’s immigration program, while also calling for a renewed effort to divert skilled migrants and refugees to regional areas where they could fill key labour shortages, as well as boost regional population growth.

She said under her tenure, many skilled migrants settled in Victoria to fill positions in meat working industries which were struggling to find skilled labour.

She said the success of Karen refugees from Myanmar in the central Victorian town of Nhill, and parallel successes with skilled migrants in towns such as Pyramid Hill in northern Victoria represent the blueprint the immigration department should continue to follow.

“The immigration department has done a great job at looking where there are labour shortages and then working with the local councils and state governments to see what can be done to get workers there, so they’ve got housing and can meet the needs [of the town and labour market],” she said.

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