Oz immigration scoop ‘completely untrue’ one day, confirmed the next
Malcolm Turnbull speaks in Tanah Merah, Queensland, Tuesday:
Reporter: Did Peter Dutton ever raise immigration (cuts with cabinet colleagues) …
Turnbull: The story on the front page — I’m so glad you asked that — the story on the front page of The Australian today about migration and the cabinet is completely untrue. It is false. No, it is completely untrue. It is completely untrue. It is completely untrue.
We never said Peter Dutton brought it up in cabinet itself. NSW political editor Andrew Clennell reports in The Australian, Tuesday:
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton proposed cutting the annual immigration intake by 20,000 to cabinet colleagues last year …
And who has come along to confirm the original story? Dutton in Canberra, yesterday:
I have canvassed different options around the composition of the program.
Oopsy-daisy. Turnbull, continued:
The article, the claim in the article is false. Full stop. OK? Full stop. It’s false and the journalist concerned should consider the reliability of his sources.
Could you just confirm the yarn for us again, Peter? The Home Affairs Minister in Canberra, yesterday:
… as you would expect, of course the government canvasses what the program numbers should be …
Oh look, there ’s more cabinet ministers who would like to confirm it. Clennell reports in The Australian, yesterday:
Three ministers present in a meeting last year have confirmed Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton proposed a cut to the immigration rate … On one minister’s account, the meeting was held in Sydney in early 2017 when Mr Dutton raised the issue of the cut in front of other ministers.
Christopher Pyne’s eye was still on divisions on the opposition frontbench rather than in his own team . 5AA Adelaide, yesterday:
Pyne: He didn’t say that Bill Shorten would lead Labor to the next election.
Anthony Albanese: Of course I did.
Pyne: No, you didn’t. Read the transcript later on, you’ll find that you didn’t endorse Bill Shorten on two opportunities.
Let’s go back and have a look at the transcript, shall we? 5AA Adelaide, seconds before:
Host: How do you think Bill Shorten’s going?
Albanese: He leads a team that has been ahead now for 30 Newspolls and Bill as the leader deserves credit …
Host: Do you reckon he will lead uninterrupted up until election day?
Albanese: Look, we are focused not on our internals …
Oh dear, oh dear. 5AA Adelaide, later on in the program:
Pyne: You still haven’t endorsed Bill, by the way …
Host: One last chance to do it unequivocally if you want, Albo.
Albanese: Unequivocally, absolutely, of course. Poor old Christopher, he’s a bit distracted.
Pyne: What, of course what? Say it. He won’t say it.
Finally, a cabinet minister who doesn’t want the top job. Education Minister Simon Birmingham on ABC Adelaide, yesterday:
Host: Would you one day like to go to the House of Representatives and be prime minister … ?
Birmingham: Absolutely, emphatically, definitively not.
Host: Why not? You’d be a good prime minister.
Birmingham: That’s very flattering …