Peter Dutton called the living conditions of First Nations people in Alice Springs “absolute misery”.
The Leader of the Opposition made the admission to ABC reporter Annabel Crabb with his interview which will air on the channel’s Kitchen Cabinet show at 8pm on Tuesday.
Mr. Dutton will discuss his personal and professional life and touch on topics such as his first marriage as a teenager, controversial comments about Lebanese immigration in 2016 and how he most likely suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder since his stint in the police – in a surprise admission.
The 52-year-old Liberal leader also spoke about Indigenous culture and his surprise at the amount of “misery” some communities live in.
His comment marks the latest criticism of conditions in the Northern Territory after he claimed in April that sexual assaults against Aboriginal children were “endemic”, prompting him to seek a royal commission.
Mr Dutton (right) explains he is struck by the ‘absolute misery’ of how some Indigenous communities in Alice Springs live in a new episode of ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet hosted by Annabel Crabb (left)
The Liberal Opposition leader (centre) also defended his remarks about ‘African gangs’ in Melbourne, but admitted he regretted his remarks about the resettlement of Lebanese migrants.
Mr. Dutton expanded on his claims about some communities living in poverty.
“Well, it depends on where you’re going,” he told Crabb.
“If you go to East Arnhem Land, the kids in school 90% of the time, they have an attendance rate equivalent to what we would see in a capital city.”
“There are employment programs and a construction company that has been established, this in Yunupingu country and there is a functioning company.
“It’s quite remarkable that you jump on the plane and then go to Alice Springs and people living in urban camps or in absolute misery.
“The health system is not working. The policing system is not working. And there is a complete breakdown. It is literally heartbreaking”.
Crabb called Mr. Dutton’s comments interesting, pointing out that she had asked him to comment on Aboriginal culture.
The ABC host noted that the Leader of the Opposition went “straight to law and order” – Mr Dutton having previously served in the police between 1990 and 1999.
Mr Dutton said he found it remarkable that a community rich in culture and history could “hide a belly”.
“You ask what strikes you the most when you enter this community. It’s misery,” he says.
“And the culture, the arts, the dance, the storytelling, all of that is remarkable when you walk into a community.
“But in some communities it masks a belly, which none of us in the part of Australia where we live would tolerate.”
Mr Dutton later told the ABC host that he regretted not voting for the national apology and now appreciates its symbolism for First Nations people.
The ABC host noted that the Leader of the Opposition went “straight to law and order” – Mr Dutton having previously served in the police between 1990 and 1999.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with Mr Dutton notably absent.
Mr Dutton was a shadow minister under Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson at the time and boycotted the apology. It took 14 years before he changed his tune and admitted making a mistake in May 2022.
Ms Crabb then asked Mr Dutton if he risked making the same mistake by voting against the indigenous voice in Parliament, to which he replied: ‘I don’t think I am.’
“It inserts a new chapter in the Constitution,” Mr Dutton said.
“It is the rule book of a nation. And I think if you do that, it’s up to the proponent to have the details.
“People in our country should be given the opportunity to voice their opinions without being yelled at.”
Mr Dutton added that the biggest issue with the referendum was the ‘form of the words’, arguing it was open to ‘meaningful interpretation’ by the High Court.
He suggested that a voice in legislation would work better because it would allow amendments to be scaled up or down.
“I believe in the principle of wanting to hear from Indigenous Australians, especially at the coal face,” Mr Dutton said.
“I am strongly in favor of hearing this voice and acting on it. And the question, when you talk to a lot of Indigenous people in the communities, is not whether their voice is heard or not, it’s whether it is acted upon. And I think that’s a failure in the system right now.
Ms Crabb also questioned Mr Dutton over controversial remarks he made about Melbourne residents being too scared to go out to dinner because of ‘African gangs’ in 2018.
Street violence was rampant at the time, with then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull accusing Prime Minister Daniel Andrews of “increasing gang violence and lawlessness”.
Crabb asked if Mr Dutton had ever thought his comments would make an African-Australian mother fear that her teenage boy would be seen as a thug.
Mr Dutton doubled down on the remark explaining that the comment was made after telling friends in Melbourne about incidents where cars had been stolen and people were going to restaurants causing havoc.
“The incidents in Victoria at the time were related to children, mostly from one particular community,” he said.
It comes after host Annabel Crabb (right) received backlash on Twitter for featuring Mr Dutton on her popular talk show
“It doesn’t come from a place of hate, it comes from a place of seeing people suffer at the hands of crime. And that’s what motivated me.
“Could it have been said with more sensitivity. Yes of course.’
Mr Dutton was then questioned over his controversial claims that the Fraser government had made a mistake in resettling Lebanese Muslim migrants.
Mr Dutton was then immigration minister and was critical of former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser’s immigration policy in the 1970s.
He argued that the context of the comment was at a time when a number of terrorist attacks were thwarted.
“At the time it was part of an attempted attack to shoot down an A380,” Mr Dutton said.
“There were a number of terrorist attacks that were foiled in our country and there was an overrepresentation. And you can kind of tiptoe around that and pretend it’s not a problem.
Crabb questioned the relevance of the comments prompting Mr. Dutton to respond: “You know, those are comments I shouldn’t have made. I apologized for that.
“But again when you’re in the thick of it and in the thick of it, we were dealing with people who had been radicalized and a lot of them shared a past and that’s kind of the factual reality what we were dealing with. ‘
Mr Dutton also spoke about his time with the Force revealing he likely has PTSD
Crabb also came under fire on Twitter for hosting the federal Liberal leader on her popular Kitchen Cabinet talk show.
In particular, she faced backlash for describing Dutton’s politics as “muscular” during a promotional interview for Kitchen Cabinet on ABC News.
Mr Dutton also spoke about his time with the force revealing he likely suffered from PTSD as he recalled a traumatic incident where he responded to the crime scene of a young woman who had been raped.
He told Ms Crabb he remembered the victim’s name and date of birth and could “still imagine that scene”.
“It’s shocking and I think it’s also scarring,” Mr Dutton said.
“I mean people would refer to it, I guess, more frequently now as some kind of PTSD or just the mental hangover from seeing this repeatedly.”
Mr Dutton joined the Queensland Police Force when he was 18 and served for almost a decade.
He worked as a young detective on the infamous murder case of 17-month-old Deidre Kennedy, an experience he says “changed” him.
