POOR PEOPLE CO.

He was firmly in the 'No' camp for the 2023 Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum [1] He straight up walked out of Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008, being so opposed to the government apologising he even threatened to resign over it. [2] BONUS: Then 15 years later, in 2023 he tried to say he's sorry for this petty tantrum - not by apologising, but by trying to justify his comments by saying it made him remember his time in the QLD Police Force because of violent incidents he attended involving First Nations people. [3] In 2010, after Liberal backbencher Wilson Tuckey said racist remarks such as calling Indigenous dancers who perform welcome to country ceremonies "grossly overweight" [4], Dutton quickly came to defend him, saying "I don't have any issue with what Wilson said frankly" [5]. ​ In 2016 while he was Immigration Minister, he said that refugees "won’t be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English" [6] and that "these people would be taking Australian jobs … they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it." [7] In 2016, Peter Dutton criticised Malcolm Fraser by saying that he made "mistakes" in granting "some people" visas [8] - when asked to clarify who he meant by "some people", he said those with "terrorist-related offences" who he then said are primarily "second and third generation Lebanese-Muslim background" [9]. BONUS: In 2023, he tried to do some damage control - not in the form of apologising for these comments, but (again) by trying to justify them, claiming he'd just been dealing with so many "radicalised" people from this community.​ [10] In 2018, he contributed to the media induced panic about African street gangs after the tragic murder of 19 year old Laa Chol, by blaming "Sudanese gangs" for the attack [11]. He claimed that people in Victoria were "scared to go out" at night because they're "being followed by these gangs... Of course, it's African gang violence." [12] BONUS: He said he was inspired to make these comments after hearing stories from his "friends in Melbourne" talking about people having their cars stolen by kids from a "particular" community, and that it "didn't come from a place of hatred" [13]... After finding the person behind this attack, the police released a statement saying Laa Chol's death had nothing to do with gangs or gang violence. [14] Despite wanting to "crack down" on asylum seekers from Asia and the Middle East, in 2018 Peter Dutton said White South African farmers “deserve special attention” and “need help from a civilised country like ours” to escape "horrific circumstances", calling them "the sorts of migrants that we want to bring into our country" [15].  South Africa rebutted these claims, stating that no portion of their population was in any danger. [16] SHOUT OUT: Former Senator Richard Di Natale summed it up very aptly: "There's no debate as far as I'm concerned, the bloke is an out-and-out racist," Senator Di Natale said. "According to Peter Dutton, if you're a white South African farmer you are going to make a great contribution, you're not going to bludge on welfare... if you're not white, you won't do any of those things." [17] Again in 2018 while he was the Minister for Home Affairs, Dutton accused Muslim community leaders of "[having] information, but [withholding] it from the police or intelligence agencies" about the Bourke Street terror attack [18]. After apprehending the person behind the attack, the AFP found there was no evidence of information about him being withheld [19]. He's said that having "Muslim candidates from Western Sydney" would be "a disaster". [20] He ignored chair of the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Djawa Yunupingu's offer to attend the 2024 Garma festival - the first Garma festival after the voice referendum (again, of which Peter Dutton made clear he was a firm "no" voter). "I wrote to the leader of the opposition a week ago. He hasn’t replied to me, I haven’t heard from him since. I wonder why?” Djawa Yunupingu told NITV. [21] ​ Earlier in 2024, Peter Dutton wanted to ban refugees from Gaza from coming into Australia, claiming the majority of people in Gaza are terrorists or terrorist-sympathisers [22].​​​​​ BONUS: after being slammed for his comments about refugees from Gaza, Dutton has doubled-down, saying having this view does not make him a racist [23] ​​ Despite blowing his dog-whistle with claims he was going to deport any non-citizens who commit serious or violent crimes, data from his time as Home Affairs Minister shows that more visas were cancelled under Section 501, while deportation fell - which only resulted in sending more people to detention centres for longer periods of time (during COVID, too), which then resulted in the re-opening of Christmas Island Detention Centre. [24] It's worth noting that a Section 501 is not related to serious or violent crimes, but rather outlines that "The Minister may refuse to grant a visa to a person if the person does not satisfy the Minister that the person passes the character test." [25] He was against laws that would have allowed refugees and asylum seekers to get medical treatment in Australia, because he believed they weren't actually sick [28]. ​ Omfg ayway we're gonna end this section here - not because we've ran out of examples, but because we're still only on reason 1.