Tony Burke criticises Coalition’s ‘horrific misrepresentation’ of his immigration record
Tony Burke has pushed back against the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, for misrepresenting his record as immigration minister in 2013.
Patricia Karvelas asked: “James Paterson says you’re a failed immigration minister … and on your watch, he says 83 boats carrying nearly 7,000 people showed up in just a few days. How do you respond to that charge?”
Burke responded:
Their first attempt to have a go at me on policy is to provide just the most horrific misrepresentation you can imagine.
It’s true when I first was given the job that the number of people arriving by boat was at an all time high. What they failed to mention is the difference between what happened when I arrived and what happened by the time I left.
After about three weeks, we’d found a way to completely change the policy. And in the seven weeks that followed, there was a 90% reduction in the number of people putting their lives at risk at sea.
Key events
Tony Burke also swatted assertions that he cannot be trusted to ensure proper security checks for Palestinians hoping to flee to Australia from Gaza.
Patricia Karvelas put to Burke on ABC RN: “[James Paterson] … says, because you’re under pressure from the Muslim Votes group in your seat, and you have expressed views of solidarity for Palestinian people that have been outspoken on that issue, he says you can’t be trusted to ensure proper identity and security checks are conducted for the thousands of Gaza residents who want to come to Australia.”
Burke responded:
Can I just say, what an idiotic comment from somebody who has clearly never been a minister.
If that’s the character of my shadow, then yeah, we’ll just deal with what comes at us.
The issue of making sure that you deal with security checks is fundamental, fundamental to the immigration program. I have never hesitated to reject visas or to cancel visas.
Any decision, regardless of where someone comes from, has to have your appropriate security and identity checks.
Tony Burke criticises Coalition’s ‘horrific misrepresentation’ of his immigration record
Tony Burke has pushed back against the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, for misrepresenting his record as immigration minister in 2013.
Patricia Karvelas asked: “James Paterson says you’re a failed immigration minister … and on your watch, he says 83 boats carrying nearly 7,000 people showed up in just a few days. How do you respond to that charge?”
Burke responded:
Their first attempt to have a go at me on policy is to provide just the most horrific misrepresentation you can imagine.
It’s true when I first was given the job that the number of people arriving by boat was at an all time high. What they failed to mention is the difference between what happened when I arrived and what happened by the time I left.
After about three weeks, we’d found a way to completely change the policy. And in the seven weeks that followed, there was a 90% reduction in the number of people putting their lives at risk at sea.
Burke says ‘legal challenges’ being discussed regarding immigration detainees released by high court ruling
Asked whether he will review who in the cohort of “foreign nationals released under that high court ruling are under preventative detention orders” on ABC RN, Tony Burke responded:
In terms of those individuals, my priority is keeping people safe. My absolute priority is keeping people safe. So we’ve started to have some conversations about some of the different challenges, legal challenges, that are being tried, and what we need to do to make sure that the community is kept safe here.
Obviously, no one wanted the high court decision, we fought the high court decision. And what we have to do now is, within the confines of what we’ve been given by the high court, make sure that we leave absolutely no stone unturned in keeping people safe.
The high court ruling found indefinite immigration detention unlawful, in a landmark decision overturning a 20-year-old precedent. Read more here:
Burke says team of six people will enable him to manage home affairs and immigration portfolios
Asked how he will manage portfolios that previously belonged to “a couple of different ministers,” Tony Burke told Patricia Karvelas on ABC RN he “couldn’t be happier with the team I’ve been given”:
The prime minister has put together a team of six people. So there’s myself as the lead minister, there’s two assistant ministers, and it’s three different envoys …
So while there’s been a fair bit of attention to me being the lead minister, the fact that we have a team that will work really effectively across the full range of issues, gives me a very high degree of confidence of how we’ll handle this.
Anthony Albanese cleared out his home affairs ministry, replacing both Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles with Burke.
He has taken on home affairs, immigration and multicultural affairs on top of his leader of the house and arts minister responsibilities.
You can read more here:
People smuggling, cybersecurity on the agenda for talks with Indonesia, Burke says
Patricia Karvelas asked minister Tony Burke whether people smuggling and border security are on the agenda for the 10th Indonesia-Australia Ministerial Council on Law and Security.
Burke told ABC RN:
Cooperation with Indonesia is fundamental to a whole range of national security issues.
We’ll be talking about shared national security challenges. Issues of radicalisation, including online, have very much been changing at a pace. There are issues of cybersecurity, where cooperation between the countries is very important.
And obviously as well, conversations about people smuggling is something that – I was in Indonesia meeting with them on people smuggling issues back in 2013.
Those conversations are always very important.
Tony Burke, who has taken on home affairs, immigration and multicultural affairs portfolios in prime minister Anthony Albanese’s cabinet reshuffle, tells ABC RN the new roles are “a serious job that has to be done”.
“I’ve worked in the area previously, when I was last minister,” he said, pointing to his time as immigration minister in 2013. “Keeping Australia safe is absolutely essential.”
More to come on Burke speaking on ABC RN in the next blog post.
Albanese says Rex Airlines is ‘important’ as carrier calls trading halt
Elias Visontay
Turbulence at Rex Airlines appears to be increasing after the carrier requested a trading halt following speculation it would appoint consultants to turnaround its financial woes.
On Monday, the ASX announced it had suspended trade in the airline’s shares after it had requested the move pending an announcement related to a news article published on Saturday, understood to be a report in the Australian that the airline had appointed turnaround experts from Deloitte.
Rex’s request suggested an imminent related announcement, with the halt in place until the commencement of trade on Wednesday.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said an airline running into trouble was a weekly occurrence in the tough, global industry.
“One thing we need to do is to make sure that we have a viable and ongoing Australian aviation industry,” he told ABC News.
But he added that a range of communities around the nation relied on the carrier.
“Rex is the only airline to go to some of those destinations, so it’s important,” Albanese said.
The prime minister met his transport minister, Catherine King, on Monday and further information had been sought from the airline, he said.
Stephanie Convery
More on Bill Shorten’s announcement this morning:
The data shared by Shorten’s office also includes notes that the average time it took for an operator to answer the phone at Centrelink during that three-week period in July was 26 minutes “depending on the day”.
For comparison, the average wait time for Centrelink calls to be answered in July and August 2023 was 32 minutes, compared with 22 minutes the previous financial year.
The figures also claim the number of congestion messages in the week ending 21 July were 58% lower than they had been in the week ending 14 January.
Make of it all what you will. It’s unclear if the reductions in processing time for things like the pharmaceutical benefits scheme safety net – from an average of 98 days last financial year to 28 days in the first three weeks of July – will be sustained.
Like all the other improvements claimed, we won’t really know until the end of the year if these figures show permanent progress, or just a blip at a quiet time of year. And they’re averages, not medians, so they’re liable to be skewed by extremes at either end.
Shorten said in a statement overnight:
I know Australians are doing it tough and I’ve asked Services Australia to work hard to reduce its claim processing and call wait times. There’s more to do, particularly in processing complex claims, but we’re making significant inroads across the board.
Shorten claims backlog of Medicare and Centrelink claims have fallen 66%
Stephanie Convery
Bill Shorten will be out and about this morning wearing his minister for government services hat, claiming that under federal Labor, the backlog of Medicare and Centrelink claims has been reduced by 66%, and that processing times have reduced by 73% on last year for people applying for jobseeker payments.
Some 890,000 outstanding claims had been resolved, Shorten said in a statement overnight, with the total now down from 1.35m in early February to “a regular number” of around 460,000.
Processing times had improved by 84% for paid parental leave (from 25 days down to 4) and 73% for jobseeker (from 22 days down to 6), the minister said.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and these are some of the top stories this morning.
Our lead story this morning is the first part of a new investigation. It reveals that multiple academics have spoken to Guardian Australia about the number of university students who struggle with “basic English” but still receive degrees, saying the integrity of the tertiary sector is under threat – and the rise of AI is accelerating the crisis.
Australians are feeling less opposed to a Donald Trump presidency than four years ago, and less sure the Aukus agreement will make Australia more secure, according to our latest Guardian Essential poll.
Bill Shorten will be out and about this morning wearing his minister for government services hat, claiming that under federal Labor, the backlog of Medicare and Centrelink claims has been reduced by 66%, and that processing times have reduced by 73% on last year for people applying for jobseeker payments. Full details coming up.
The Albanese government turned down a plea from budget airline Bonza for financial assistance 10 days before it entered voluntary administration and ultimately collapsed, we report this morning. Documents obtained by Guardian Australia through freedom of information laws reveal the transport department prepared a brief on Bonza’s financial assistance request for the transport minister, Catherine King, on 20 April. Ten days later the airline’s planes were repossessed and thousands of passengers stranded across the country.
It comes Anthony Albanese said Rex Airlines was “important” to communities not served by Qantas and Virgin after the carrier suspended trading in its shares amid speculation about its future. More coming up.