Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s arrogance was on full display on the ABC’s Insiders yesterday. On his best behaviour, Dutton nonetheless refused to be held to account over the apparent politicisation of the federal police, further national security overreach, the cost of reopening Christmas Island, the fate of hundreds of people indefinitely detained on Manus Island and Nauru, or the renewal of the controversial Paladin security contract. On each point, Dutton gave determined non-answers. The minister seems to think that so long as he can mention paedophiles, terrorists or people-smugglers – or attack the Labor Party – he can justify anything. But Dutton’s contempt for public accountability confirms that he is the last person who should ever have been entrusted with the home affairs ministry or legislative powers that are turning Australia into a police state.

Asked why the AFP would not investigate a leak of classified security advice on the medivac laws to The Australian, Dutton said: “These matters have been around since there was sparring between journalists and members of parliament and I think that’s just the reality of it.” Asked whether it was appropriate for the Australian Signals Directorate to be given powers to operate domestically, Dutton referred to the live-streaming of child sexual abuse and said: “I think there needs to be a sensible discussion about whether or not we’ve got the ability to deal with threats that we face.” Was it worth spending almost $200 million to accommodate no people on Christmas Island? “Well I mean there [was] $16 billion spent on Labor’s failed border protection policies.” Was he happy with the Paladin contract being rolled over? “I don’t want any money spent up there. I don’t want any people there.”

Labor’s shadow minister for home affairs, Kristina Keneally, slammed the Insiders interview: “In 10 short minutes, Peter Dutton shrugged off concerns about a seriously damaging leak of ASIO information, refused to rule out an expanded role for the Australian Signals Directorate to work in the domestic sphere, lied about how the medivac legislation operates and misrepresented Labor’s position. And quite significantly, let the cat out of the bag when it came to the Paladin contract.”

The government and Opposition are shadow-boxing over the medivac laws: the minister claimed yesterday that the ALP was “open to suggestions about how that bill could be repealed or at the very least wound back”; in response, Keneally said that if the government wanted to improve the legislation, they must explain why. Overnight, however, the language appeared to toughen on both sides, with Labor reiterating support for the laws, and Dutton describing [$] the legislation as a “dangerous piece of law [that] can’t be improved. It must be repealed.”

In further fallout today, the Papua New Guinea immigration minister indicated that the controversial $420 million Paladin security contract at Manus would be cancelled by his government by the end of the month. Others expressed alarm [$] at Dutton’s persistence with the proposal that the ASD be empowered to spy on Australians – which was the subject of last year’s leak to News Corp’s Annika Smethurst, and triggered the AFP raid on her home. The Greens’ justice spokesperson, Nick McKim, described the proposal as “a dangerous and unjustified attack on fundamental rights. For the Liberals to try to push this through just days after raids on journalists shows how little they respect basic rights and freedom of the press … No further powers should be granted to security agencies without a thorough review of existing laws, and until our rights are properly enshrined and protected in a Charter of Rights.”

All of this suggests it may be unrealistic to hope for a rush of goodwill towards journalists from the Morrison government, or that it will suddenly roll over and protect press freedom. The widespread outrage at the AFP’s raids on Smethurst and the ABC certainly appears to have passed by the home affairs minister, who is still heading in the other direction. Buoyed by the federal election result, Dutton is not interested in softening his position on national security at all.

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