Nat Barr has been forced to cancel an uncomfortably tense interview with the Home Secretary and a Liberal senator after the pair refused to stop arguing over the government’s latest immigration blunder.
Labor Minister Clare O’Neil and Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume appeared on Sunrise on Wednesday morning, where Barr asked how high-profile criminal Kevin Farrugia’s visa cancellation was revoked.
The TV presenter was due to ask one more question after the visa discussion, but instead closed the interview early after she was unable to speak amid the disputes between O’Neil and Hume.
‘You know no one likes to argue. I think we’ll leave it there. See you next week,” Barr said when the camera suddenly cut to the interview and cut to co-host Matt Shirvington.
News emerged this week that Farrugia, 51, who is also an associate of Australia’s most famous crime lord Tony Mokbel, was saved from deportation by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
Nat Barr has been forced to cancel an awkward and tense interview with Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil (left) and Liberal senator Jane Hume (right) after the pair refused to stop arguing about the latest government mistake on immigration.
Farrugia, whose serial criminality began in 1993, has been convicted of reckless conduct endangering life, kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms and drug trafficking.
The Maltese national is behind bars but could be released in May next year.
His visa was cancelled, but has since been revoked as part of Immigration Minister Andrew Giles’ Direction 99, which was issued early last year.
The order requires the immigration minister or a body, including the AAT, to consider an individual’s community ties when considering revoking the cancellation of a convicted criminal’s visa.
The decision means greater tolerance is shown towards immigrants who have committed serious crimes and whose visas have been canceled if they “have lived in the Australian community for most of their life, or from a very young age”.
‘Clare, is it becoming difficult to continue defending Minister Giles?’ Barr asked Ms. O’Neil.
O’Neil immediately placed the blame on former Immigration Minister and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, saying he had the opportunity to cancel Farrugia’s visa when he was in charge but did not do so.
“You probably saw that last week it was reported that, while Peter Dutton was Home Affairs Minister and Immigration Minister, 1,300 convicted criminals were released from immigration detention centres,” he said.
Mrs. Hume quickly interrupted Mrs. O’Neil and said, “Oh, Clare, you are shameless!”
The Home Secretary appeared unfazed by the interruption and said Dutton had refused to answer questions about the issue.
“I would say that if the test for Jane and her colleagues scheduled for our government ministers had been set for Peter Dutton, he would not have lasted a week,” he continued.
Hume interrupted again, saying Dutton “lasted much longer than a week” and canceled more than 6,500 visas during his tenure.
“You’re a shameless Clare,” he said.
Mr Barr then attempted to seek clarity on whether Mr Dutton could have canceled Mr Farrugia’s visa, but did not get a clear answer from Ms Hume as he continued to attack the Labor Party.
“It’s hard to get caught up in this government on this issue if you can’t answer the question of whether your government could have done it,” Barr said, as Hume continued speaking above her.
Barr then attempted to change the subject and move on to the final question, but the two ministers refused to back down and continued arguing.
The Sunrise host then closed the interview and both ministers were suddenly silenced and taken off camera.
More to come