South Africa violence: Julie Bishop refuses to back Peter Dutton

The Foreign Minister has refused to back Peter Dutton’s comments that persecuted white South African farmers deserve “special treatment” when it comes to humanitarian visas.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has refused to back Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s comments that persecuted white South African farmers deserve “special treatment” when it comes to humanitarian visas.

While Ms Bishop acknowledged there had been a “dramatic increase” in violent crime in ­recent years with more than 19,000 ­murders, she said persecuted South Africans were ­eligible for humanitarian visas but all applications would be “considered on merit”.

Speaking on the ABC’s Insiders program yesterday, Ms Bishop conceded the South African ­government had been offended by Mr Dutton’s remarks and ­rejected his suggestion white farmers were facing “horrific ­circumstances”.

She said the Australian government had raised concerns about recent land ­reforms, saying “we want to ensure those land ­reforms don’t lead to tensions or indeed ­violence”.

She also said she wouldn’t generalise when it came to the issue of whether South Africans would make “better citizens than anyone else in this situation”.

“I’m not going to start generalising,” Ms Bishop said. “There are many South Africans in my own electorate of Curtin and they make a great contribution to life in ­Australia.

“As do so many immigrants from all around the world. They make an incredible contribution to the peace, stability and prosperity of our nation.”

The South African government has demanded a “full retraction” from Mr Dutton after he told a Sydney radio station last week that white South African farmers being attacked on their land deserved special consideration for humanitarian entry to “a civilised country” like Australia.

“They work hard, they integrate well into Australian society, they contribute to make us a better country and they’re the sorts of migrants that we want to bring into our country,” Mr Dutton told 2GB on Thursday.

The South African government rejected the characterisation.

“The South African government is offended by the statements which have been attributed to the Australian Home Affairs Minister and a full retraction is expected.”

Ms Bishop’s comments come as Johannesburg Sunday Times columnist Barney Mthombothi dismissed Mr Dutton as a “cranky right-winger”. But it was the ­behaviour of the Australian cricket team while on tour in South ­Africa that really drew his ire.

In a column headlined “ugly Australians — Peter Dutton and the precious lot who are here playing cricket”, Mthombothi wrote he was “less concerned about the ­utterances of a politician who, at the time of committing the said crime, might have smoked something”.

“I’m more worked up about the Australians who are currently gallivanting on our shores with some gay abandon. Fine cricketers they are, but awful human ­beings. They really get my goat. The Australians play dirty and then play victim. They aren’t bothered that they represent their country.’’

Mthombothi said banning South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada for “rubbing the tender shoulder of his royal highness Steven Smith,” “paled” in comparison with the “many infractions committed by the Aussies”.