Culture

Waleed Aly Has Directly Called On Tony Abbott To Confirm Or Deny That Australia’s Paid People Smugglers

"You don't get to do this in a democracy ... you need to tell us."

by Meg Watson  13 June 2015

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Just as it would be difficult to pinpoint an individual sting when hysterically engulfed in a swarm of enraged hornets, it’s also pretty hard to keep up with the news about Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers these days. Spoilers: things aren’t getting any better.

Continuing their now-routine beatdown of Human Right Commission president Gillian Triggs as well as their wilful violation of a UN convention against torture, the government has this week faced some more uniquely horrifying headlines. First off: it seems as though Australian-born babies are being shipped to rat-infested offshore detention centres despite welfare organisations rightfully warning that would be an A-grade terrible idea. And, as if that wasn’t enough, they’re also being accused of paying people smugglers to turn back boats.

Last week, Indonesian police told the media that a boat carrying 65 Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi asylum seekers crashed onto a reef near West Papua after being sent away by Australian border patrols. Now, they’re investigating multiple claims that the crew of people smugglers were paid $5,000 each to turn back.

Importantly, this is just an allegation and it’s one which was quickly denied by both Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. But in speaking to Neil Mitchell on 3AW about it yesterday, the Prime Minister wouldn’t do the same. Though he was explicitly asked five times whether Australia has ever paid people smugglers, he refused to give a straight answer and ominously stated the government would do whatever it took to turn back the boats. 

“What we do is we stop the boats by hook or by crook,” he said. “That’s what we’ve got to do and that’s what we’ve successfully done. I don’t want to go into how it’s done.”

This has obviously created a whole lot of doubt on the subject: the issue’s made international headlines and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has just called for the government to table documents relating to the matter on Monday. But last night on The Project, Waleed Aly called absolute bullshit on it all with a direct address to the PM.

“What are we doing about these very serious allegations, Prime Minister?” he said. “You don’t get to do this in a democracy. When the allegations are this serious, you don’t get to choose if you tell us or not. You don’t get to give my money to evil people and then refuse even to discuss it. Hypothetical or not.”

“If the end does justify the means, you need to tell us. Tell us taxpayers what those means are and let us judge for ourselves if it really is all good.”

Man. Nazeem is straight-up killing it these days.