Murray Olds: Australian correspondent on Peter Dutton calling for a referendum on deportation

Over in Australia, opposition leader Peter Dutton has reignited calls for a referendum on deporting dual citizens.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has since hit out at this suggestion, labelling it a 'thought bubble'.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says this is a 'nonsense' election pledge with limited weight behind it. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International correspondence with ends and eye insurance feace of mind
for New Zealand Business.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Murray Olds of our Australia correspondent, Murray, good afternoon, Yeah,
get out there. Thanks you good, thank you. Now Duston
wants a referendum on deportation. Is he is he? Is
this a sort of a headline or is he serious?

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Mate? It's another little lamb chop thrown out to his
base who wanted him to be strong and tough in
this phony campaign. We haven't even called the election yet
and the pair of them, alban Easy and Dutton are
racing all over the country like Headler's chucks, throwing money
to the winds and promising all sorts of OUTLANDI stuff
like this ridiculous call for a referendum. I mean Alban

(00:42):
Easy summed up Dutton's pledge this morning he said it's
a thought bubble. I mean that was on national television
early on this morning, saying, oh yes, yes, I'm Prime Minister.
I'm going to hold a referendum to give the government
new power to the port dual citizen criminals. Well, only
a couple of hours later, the Shadow Attorney General mccabey
Cash admitted it was only at last resort option and

(01:06):
in the meantime, I mean, it's just absolute nonsense. It's
the same nonsense that Albanese spouting as well. I mean,
it's not confined to one side of politics. But I
did like a line of another thought. Bubble hasn't been
thought through, not clear where it's come from. Peter doesn't
want to talk about anything other than the cost of living.
So look, it's going to be a constant living election.
I just can't wait until the damn things cool, because

(01:27):
then we can start getting on with the real business.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, yeah, you're here, I think. I mean, honestly, even
on this side of the Testament, there's probably some anticipation
for at least a date. We haven't even got that
in Murray. Now, what's up with these anonymous letters in
Melbourne to do with Hong Kong.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
This is a very worrying thing and it picks up
on things that have happened before here. You've had demonstrators
gathering down in in Canberra outside the Embassy of the
of the People's Republic of China, protesting about human rights,
for example, about wigas and so on. When you've had people,
you've had goons walking through allegedly out of the embassy,

(02:07):
walking around photographic people putting your frighteners on others. And
this has been a recurring theme here that the Chinese
government is here putting a squeeze on either students who
are here to study or Australian citizens who are here
to live. And this is what's happened. Apparently a number
of Melbourne residents have received anonymous letters offering a big

(02:29):
bounty that's called a police bounty if they tell tales
on an Australian citizen. And this guy, Kevin Yam, is
a pro democracy activist. He's wandered in Hong Kong for
these alleged national security crimes. Well, Penny Wong, who's the
Australian Foreign and says, you're cracking jokes. This is completely unacceptable,

(02:51):
very deeply worrying, and she says Australias are going to
tolerate surveillance, harassment or intimidation against individuals or family members
in Australia. The government raised its concerns apparently directly with
Beijing and authorities in Hong Kong.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Interesting, Murray, thank you for that. Murray olds are Australia correspondent.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
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