Peter Dutton lays into ‘Armani refugees’

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has accused the refugees who left Manus Island bound for the United States this week of being “economic refugees.

Manus asylum-seekers depart PNG for the US, where they were due to start a new life. Picture: Brian Cassey

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has hit out at the group of refugees who left Manus Island bound for the United States this week, accusing them of being “economic refugees” who own designer clothing.

Speaking from London where he is attending a series of counter-terror meetings, Mr Dutton said many of the refugees on Manus Island and Nauru had not come from war-ravaged areas.

“They’re economic refugees, they got on a boat, paid a people smuggler a lot of money, and somebody once said to me that we’ve got the world’s biggest collection of Armani jeans and handbags up on Nauru waiting for people to collect it when they depart,” Mr Dutton told 2GB.

“The reality is that these people have at the generosity of the Australian taxpayer received an enormous amount of support for a long period of time.

After years in Australian detention on Manus Island asylum-seekers depart from Port Moresby Airport this week.

“We didn’t ask people to hop on the boats, and we’re getting them out including through this US deal, but we have been taken for a ride.”

Mr Dutton said asylum seekers on Manus Island had recently posted photographs on social media of themselves at the beach on the island.

“Quickly they take down their photos from the Facebook pages when they’re discovered, but there is a very different scenario up on Nauru and Manus than what people want you to believe,” he said.

Mr Dutton said it “might come as a shock” for some of the refugees to have to work to earn a living when they resettle in the US.

“They’ve been receiving government three square meals a day, accommodation, services all turned on, and the reality is that people coming to Australia, some wanting to come for work, others were wanting to come for welfare,” he said.

“In the end we aren’t going to allow those people to dictate when they come to our country, we’re not going to allow people smugglers back into business, and I’ve predicted for a long period of time that once people are off Manus and Nauru they’ll start to tell a very different story that it wasn’t that bad to wait a couple of years to get this outcome.

“The boats are still there, the people smugglers are trying to put the boats together, and the problem hasn’t gone away.

“I believe very strongly the boats would restart again under a Shorten government.”