Politics

Peter Dutton Has Been Very Quiet Lately, And Everyone Is Making The Same Joke

"Well done Peter Dutton. You had to stop one boat."

by Rachael Conaghan  6 April 2020
peter dutton

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Since the Ruby Princess debacle, our Home Affairs minister — the one who has staked his career on “stopping the boats” — Peter Dutton has been conspicuously quiet. As you’d expect, everyone is making the same joke.

“This is a Commonwealth Government that says they stopped the boats. Well, they didn’t stop the boat that mattered — the Ruby Princess,” said Labor Senator Kristina Keneally.

And while we can use the irony to bring a little levity to the situation, in reality, the Ruby Princess debacle is no laughing matter.

Yesterday NSW Police announced they had opened a criminal investigation into how the cruise ship was allowed to dock, letting thousands of passengers disembark into our biggest city and spread across the country.

At least 11 passengers have died after contracting the virus on the ship. Australia’s death toll sits at 37 as of this morning; that makes it almost 30 percent of our total number of fatalities. It’s also responsible for more than 600 cases; around 10 percent of our national total.

All from one ship that was allowed to dock — despite knowing there were sick passengers on board, despite the government already announcing a ban on cruise ships, and despite the Diamond Princess  in Japan already providing a perfect case study.

As public outrage mounts over the handling of the Ruby Princess mess, a blame game has erupted between authorities about who is responsible for letting hundreds of infectious people loose. At various points, the Home Affairs department, NSW Health and NSW Police have all copped some blame — and tried to blame each other — for the stuff up.

Meanwhile, the Home Affairs minister — whose job it is to oversee border security — has been noticeably absent from the national conversation on this border security crisis.

Peter Dutton himself was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 13. Naturally, everyone was making the same joke then as well.

Peter, you just make it too easy.

Of course it’s understandable that Peter Dutton would take time off to recover from the illness — we wouldn’t begrudge him that.

But he’s already confirmed his symptoms disappeared a week after his diagnosis and he’s been able to work from home — plus, he’s been well enough to continue his regular friendly radio slot with Ray Hadley on 2GB.

There, he refused to be drawn on who was to blame, saying he didn’t believe in “hanging someone out to dry” in the current circumstances.

It didn’t take long for that newfound benevolence to disappear — days later on the same radio show he called for a Labor Senator who complimented the Chinese President’s leadership to resign.

He’s also been well enough to lash out at people who have been panic buying, saying he believed many people were trying to profit by selling products overseas or on the black market.

The police investigation into the Ruby Princess will cover the actions of the port authority, ambulance, police, NSW Health and the ship operator Carnival Australia.

Feature Image: Creative Commons