Politics

Dutton warns politicians to ‘resign’ if they’re not loyal to Turnbull

Apr 04, 2018

Dutton has thrown his support behind PM Turnbull. Source: Getty.

Peter Dutton has warned other politicians to “resign” unless they’re fully supportive of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, amid a string of Newspoll losses.

The home affairs minister pledged his loyalty to the political leader, before standing by his recent proposal to fast-track visas for white South African farmers – insisting his comments were never retracted, as the country has claimed.

Speaking on Sky News, Dutton defended Turnbull after he suffered his 29th consecutive Newspoll loss. It means that he’s now one loss away from matching former prime minister Tony Abbott’s 30 poll losing streak.

Turnbull took over from Abbott as the Liberal Party leader in 2015, noting the 30 losses in a row as a main reason for stepping up as leader and ditching Abbott. However, Dutton has insisted he remains a full support for the PM.

“I only accepted the offer to serve in the prime minister’s cabinet, because I could give my loyalty to the leader,” he said. “It’s exactly the same formula I applied when Tony Abbott offered a position within his cabinet.”

Dutton added: “I believe very strongly that if you don’t have that loyalty, then you resign from the cabinet.”

Meanwhile, he rejected South Africa’s recent claims that Turnbull and Julie Bishop had retracted his comments on white farmers in the country. He recently revealed a wish to fast-track visas for the “hard-working” farmers, whether that be with refugee, humanitarian or other visas, amid apparent land seizures and violence.

.@PeterDutton_MP: the Immigration Department is looking into 'several cases' of white South African farmers who claim they are being persecuted in their home country.

MORE: https://t.co/VFUyZ8bD4C #theboltreport #auspol pic.twitter.com/RspRVJQeMC

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 3, 2018

Following angry backlash to his comments, the Pretoria government claimed on Tuesday that Turnbull and Bishop had retracted his statements completely.

“We welcome the assurance by the Australian government as reported in the media that the comments made by their Home Affairs Minister are not in line with Australian immigration policy. We also welcome Australia’s condemnation of the unfortunate comments by South African and other international organisations and leaders,” South Africa’s International Relations Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said.

However, Dutton has stood by his comments, and said they were never retracted at all. He added: “I’ve seen the letter that Julie sent to her counterpart in South Africa, and it doesn’t go to any suggestion for retraction of comments.”

Dutton previously told Miranda Devine that he has called on his department to look for ways they could offer “assistance” to white farmers.

“People need help, and they need help from a civilised country like ours,” he said. “More importantly than that, they want to work hard, they want to contribute to a country like Australia… We want people that come here and abide by our laws, integrate into our society, work hard, not lead a life on welfare, and I think these people deserve special attention.”

South Africa responded at the time with an angry statement, saying: “There is no reason for any Government anywhere in the world to suspect that any South African is in danger from their own democratically elected Government. That threat simply does not exist.”