Peter Dutton describes living conditions of First Nations people in Alice Springs as ‘absolute squalor’ – as he opens up on personal and public life

Peter Dutton has described the living conditions of First Nations people in Alice Springs as ‘absolute misery’.

The opposition leader admitted this to ABC journalist Annabel Crabb in his interview that will be broadcast on Tuesday at 8 p.m. on the channel’s Kitchen Cabinet program.

Mr Dutton will touch on his personal and professional life, covering 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 syndrome since his time in the police force. surprising admission.

The 52-year-old liberal leader also spoke of indigenous culture and his astonishment at the amount of “misery” in which some communities live.

His comments mark the latest criticism of conditions in the Northern Territory after he claimed in April that sexual assault against Indigenous children was ‘rampant’, prompting him to set up a Royal Commission.

The Liberal opposition leader (centre) also defended his comments about ‘African gangs’ in Melbourne, but admitted he regrets his comments about the resettlement of Lebanese migrants

Mr. Dutton elaborated on his claims about some communities living in squalor.

“Well, it depends where you’re going,” he told Crabb.

“If you go to Oost-Arnhem Land, children at school have an attendance rate 90 percent of the time that is equivalent to what we would see in a capital city.”

‘There are employment programs and a construction company has been set up, this in Yunupingu country and there is a functioning society.

“It’s quite remarkable that you get on a plane and then go to Alice Springs and to people living in urban camps or living in absolute squalor.

“The healthcare system is not functioning. The law-and-order system is not functioning. And there is a complete collapse. It’s literally heartbreaking.’

Crabb described Mr Dutton’s comments as interesting and pointed out that she had asked him to comment on Aboriginal culture.

The ABC presenter noted that the opposition leader went ‘straight to law and order’ – with Mr Dutton previously serving on the police force between 1990 and 1999.

Mr Dutton said he found it remarkable that a community rich in culture and history can ‘mask a gut’.

“You wonder what strikes you most when you enter that community. It’s the misery,’ he said.

“And the culture, the art, the dance, the storytelling, all of that is remarkable when you enter a community.

“But in some communities it masks a gut, something that none of us in the part of Australia where we live would tolerate.”

Mr Dutton then told the ABC presenter that he regrets not voting for the national apology and now appreciates its symbolism for First Nations people.

The ABC presenter noted that the opposition leader went ‘straight to law and order’ – with Mr Dutton previously serving on the police force between 1990 and 1999.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to the 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 would be fourteen years before he changed his tune and in May 2022 admitted to making a mistake.

Ms Crabb then asked Mr Dutton if he risks making the same mistake by voting against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, to which he replied ‘I don’t think so’.

“It inserts a new chapter in the Constitution,” Dutton said.

“It’s a country’s rulebook. And I think if you’re going to do that, it’s the applicant’s responsibility to have the details available.”

“People in our country should be able to express their opinions without being shouted down.”

Mr Dutton added that the main issue regarding the referendum was the ‘shape of the words’, arguing that it is open to ‘significant interpretation’ by the Supreme Court.

He suggested that a vote in legislation would work better, as it would allow amendments to be moved up or down.

“I believe in the principle of wanting to hear from Indigenous Australians, especially on the Coal Plain,” said Mr Dutton.

“I’m a big believer in hearing that voice and acting on it. And the question, when you speak to many Indigenous people in communities, is not about whether or not their voices are heard, but whether they are acted upon. And I think that’s what’s failing in the system right now.”

Ms Crabb also questioned Mr Dutton about controversial comments he made in relation to Melbourne residents being too scared to eat out because of ‘African gangs’ in 2018.

Street violence was rampant at the time, with then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull blaming Prime Minister Daniel Andrews for “increasing gang violence and lawlessness.”

Crabb asked if Dutton ever thought his comments would scare an African-Australian mother that her teenage boy would be seen as a felon.

Mr Dutton doubled down on the comment, explaining that the comment was made after talking to friends in Melbourne about incidents of cars being stolen and people entering restaurants causing extensive damage.

“The incidents in Victoria at the time involved children, mainly from a particular community,” he said.

It comes after host Annabel Crabb (right) was criticized on Twitter for including Mr Dutton on her hit talk show

“It didn’t come from hatred, it came from seeing people suffer from the crime. And that’s what motivated me.

Can it be said more sensitively? Yes of course.’

Mr Dutton was then questioned about his controversial claims that the Fraser government had made a mistake in resettling Lebanese Muslim migrants.

Mr Dutton was Immigration Secretary at the time and criticized former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser’s immigration policies in the 1970s.

He argued that the context of the comment was set at a time when a number of terrorist attacks were foiled.

“At the time, it was in the context of an attack attempt to shoot down an A380,” Dutton said.

‘A number of terrorist attacks have been thwarted in our country and there was over-representation. And you can tiptoe around it and pretend it’s no big deal.”

Crabb questioned the accuracy of the comments prompting Mr Dutton to respond: “You know they’re comments I shouldn’t have made. I apologized for that.’

“But again, if you were in the thick of it, we were dealing with people who had become radicalized and many of them shared a background and that’s kind of the actual reality of what we were dealing with. ‘

Mr Dutton also spoke about his time in the police force and revealed that he probably suffers from PTSD

Crabb has also come under fire on Twitter for portraying the federal liberal leader on her popular talk show Kitchen Cabinet.

In particular, she has faced backlash for describing Dutton’s politics as “muscular” during a promotional interview for Kitchen Cabinet on ABC news.

Mr Dutton also elaborated on his time on the force, revealing he is likely to suffer from PTSD, recalling a traumatic incident where he reacted at the crime scene of a young woman who had been raped.

He told Mrs. Crabb that he remembered the victim’s name and date of birth and could “still recall that scene.”

“It’s shocking and I think it’s scarring, too,” Mr. Dutton said.

“I mean, people would, I think, refer to it more now as kind of PTSD or just the mental hangover of seeing that repeatedly.”

Mr Dutton joined the Queensland Police Force at the age of 18 and served for nearly ten years.

As a young detective, he worked on the notorious murder case of 17-month-old Deidre Kennedy, an experience he said “changed” him.