Dutton says he apologised for Lebanese Muslim remarks to unnamed ‘senior person’

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has said he made an apology for comments about Lebanese Muslims and immigration “mistakes” to a single “senior person”, who he has declined to name.

The claim, at a press conference in Brisbane on Thursday, follows reporting by this masthead that revealed a range of community leaders and two Lebanese Muslim politicians in the Liberal Party could not recall him apologising.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has suggested he apologised to one, unnamed person. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

In 2016, Dutton said the government under former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser had made immigration policy mistakes in the 1970s. When asked to clarify by Labor, he went on to tell parliament that 22 of the last 33 people charged with terrorism-related offences were second- and third-generation Lebanese Muslims.

“They’re comments I shouldn’t have made. I’ve apologised for that,” he said in an episode of the ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet last year.

Asked in Brisbane when and where he made the apology, Dutton told reporters: “Well, look, there are a couple of left-wing journalists who are obsessed on this issue.

“So it’s not something I’m going to further comment on. I had a conversation. And I had that discussion.

“I’m not going to betray that conversation with a senior person, who it was in the community at the time. The Sydney Morning Herald can obsess about that all they like.”

A journalist followed up, saying: “Not just left-wing journalists – Mazhar Hadid, who’s a Liberal on the Liverpool council, wants to know when you made it.”

Dutton declined to answer, replying: “I’ve made my comment.”

A spokesperson for the opposition leader, who has repeatedly declined to provide details of the apology, issued a one-line statement to this masthead last week saying: “Mr Dutton stands by his comments [on Kitchen Cabinet] and won’t be detailing any private conversations with community leaders.”

Omar Kassem, 62, would like to see Dutton apologise on TV.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Hadid and another Liberal councillor, Sutherland Shire’s Hassan Awada, have said they could not recall any apology.

“Mate, we never heard that,” Hadid said. He called on Dutton to sit down with the community.

This masthead has spoken with five other community leaders, including past and present leaders of the Lebanese Muslim Association, who said they also could not recall an apology. A number said that public remarks required a public apology.

An academic who published a paper about Dutton’s remarks, and Malcolm Turnbull, who was prime minister at the time of the 2016 comments, also said they were unaware of Dutton saying sorry.

While Dutton at the time said he did not want to see hardworking, law-abiding immigrants, including Lebanese immigrants, tarred with the misdeeds of a few, many in the community heard him saying their lives in Australia were mistakes.

“We’re really upset because we never do anything wrong, we try our best for Australia,” Omar Kassem, 62, who came to Australia in 1977, said.

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