Australia minister warns against ‘illiterate’ refugees

Australia’s immigration minister was accused of xenophobia on Wednesday after he said increasing the nation’s refugee intake would lead to “illiterate and innumerate” people claiming welfare or taking local jobs.

Peter Dutton was responding to proposals by the Labour Opposit-ion to boost Australia’s annual refugee intake from 13,750 to 27,000 while the Greens want it raised to 50,000 as they outline policies ahead of national elections on July 2.

“For many people they won’t be numerate or literate in their own language let alone English and this is a difficulty,” Mr Dutton told Sky News late Tuesday.

“Now, these people would be taking Austra-lian jobs, there’s no que-stion about that. “And for many of them they would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it. So there would be a huge cost and there’s no sense in sugarcoating that.”

Labour frontbencher Chris Bowen, a former immigration minister, said the country had benefited hugely from the contribution of refugees over the years and criticised Mr Dutton’s comments.

“There are hundreds of thousands of refuge-es in Australia who’ve worked hard, who’ve educated themselves and their children and they will be shaking th-eir heads at their minister today, in disgust frankly,” he said. “If Peter Dutton owes anybody an apology it’s not the Labour Party, it’s them.”

Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young went further, accusing Mr Dutton of xenophobia.

“Peter Dutton says people are either going to steal Australian jobs or be waiting in the dole queue. Which one is it It is nasty and steeped purely in xenophobia,” she said.

But Mr Dutton won support from foreign minister Julie Bishop who said he was only being realistic about the cost of resettling even more refugees.

“Peter Dutton is pointing out the very real cost involved in issuing humanitarian and refugee visas,” she said.