Peter Dutton suggests some former Afghan guards and interpreters could pose security risk to Australia
Peter Dutton has accused some of the former Afghan guards and interpreters who worked with Australia of shifting their allegiance to the Taliban or al-Qaida, and denounced critics of the Morrison government’s response as “lounge chair experts”.
The defence minister’s comments sparked claims the government was “whipping up fear” and playing “dogwhistle politics” in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.
The former Australian Army captain Jason Scanes, who has campaigned for years on behalf of Afghan nationals who served alongside Australia, said he was “disgusted” to hear Dutton “attacking and besmirching the good name of those interpreters”.
In an interview on Wednesday defending the government’s slow processing of some of the visa applications, Dutton suggested that an unspecified number could pose a security threat, and said he would be criticised “if one person was brought in that committed an atrocity in our country”.
Dutton also told ABC TV some of the applicants may be hiding their true identity or “forum shopping” by seeking visas from multiple countries, and he said some family groups included “males of fighting age” and “we don’t know enough about those individuals”.
He questioned whether some of the countries pledging to rapidly resettle thousands of refugees from Afghanistan would actually follow through: “Let’s see whether people put their money where their mouth is.”
Dutton’s hardline comments came on the same day the prime minister, Scott Morrison, used a press conference about Australia’s evacuation mission in Afghanistan to warn that only people who came through “official channels” would be settled in Australia.
He indicated at least 3,000 Afghan nationals would be allowed to come to Australia this year under the existing humanitarian program.
But the prime minister said more than 4,200 Afghans currently in Australia on temporary visas would not be permanently settled, signalling that there would be no softening of the government’s stance on people who arrive on boats.
The first Royal Australian Air Force evacuation flight landed in Kabul on Tuesday night and picked up 26 passengers on Wednesday morning, with the government saying it hopes the numbers will ramp up now that Australia has officials on the ground at the airport.
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Critics of the government’s response to the crisis in Afghanistan have not suggested security checks be suspended for Afghans who formerly worked alongside Australian troops and diplomats.
But they argue the government was not proactive enough in the months leading up to the defence force’s withdrawal from the country, amid repeated warnings about the threats former locally engaged employees faced from the Taliban.
The former Australian defence force chief Chris Barrie has said the “ugly truth” is that “we’ve just left it far too late” to rescue former guards, interpreters and ancillary staff, while the former Labor former prime minister Kevin Rudd accused the government of “heartbreaking incompetence”.
With Morrison now conceding that Australia will not be able to rescue all of the interpreters and guards who had helped Australian personnel in Afghanistan, Dutton was asked whether he regretted being unable to assist more people.
Dutton replied that “we need to deal with the reality on the ground, not how we want it to be”. He said people “move allegiances around” for “their own survival instincts”.
“There are some wonderful people who have supported us at a point in time 10 years ago and they’ve now gone on to work for the Taliban, they’re working for al-Qaida, they’re acting out against our allies, and their allegiances have shifted,” Dutton told ABC TV on Wednesday.
“They’ve done that for survival or for their own purposes, their own intents, but we’re not bringing those people to our country. And those that provided us with support, wherever is possible, they will come to our country.”
Dutton said the government had been “incredibly successful in working through and providing a new home to 430-plus of those people just since April”, and it would bring more.
“But we need to be realistic about the circumstances on the ground. This is not like moving from Sydney to Melbourne or Perth to Brisbane.”
Pressed to substantiate his claims, Dutton declined to say how many applicants had been subject to adverse security assessments, but said it was a “not insignificant” number.
“In the end, I can tell you, you and many other journalists would be screaming down the line at me if one person was brought in that committed an atrocity in our country,” he said.
“So we have to balance a lot of equities here. The most important one for us is that we keep our country safe.”
Scanes said he found Dutton’s comments “disgraceful”. He said the government had failed to act on months of warnings about the need to get people out safely.
“Instead of accepting responsibly for his government’s failure, they come out and they attack these brave Afghans who stood shoulder to shoulder with us,” the former Australian Army captain said.
He said every Australian soldier understood that interpreters who worked alongside them would face retribution if they tried to walk up to the Taliban and said “Hey, I now support you”.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Dutton’s comments were “an insult” and “a smear”.
“When we need leadership and clarity to build public confidence to do the right with a strong humanitarian response, we have the minister in charge whipping up fear,” Hanson-Young said. “This is dog-whistle politics – grubby and nasty.”
The immigration minister, Alex Hawke, has said no Afghan visa holder currently in Australia would be sent back to Afghanistan “while the security situation there remains dire”.
The Refugee Council of Australia and nearly 300 other organisations sent a joint letter to all federal MPs and senators on Wednesday calling on them to extend permanent protection to 4,300 Afghans on temporary protection visas.
The letter says such a move is needed because “members of this group are unlikely to be able to return in safety for many years to come and need the assurance that they can continue to live in Australia without the constant fear of forced return”.