Why won't the media give Peter Dutton a break?
First there was the boom microphone that picked up his remarks about Pacific Islands being swamped by rising seas and a meeting running on "Cape York time". They were "light-hearted" comments made in a "private conversation", but if anyone was offended he was sorry.
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Dutton plays down Nauru abuse
Only 20 people have been settled in Manus & Save the Children are running a political campaign says Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Audio ABC Radio.
Then there was the text message he inadvertently sent to a News Corp journalist describing her as a "mad f---ing witch." He apologised for the "robust language".
Then a Fairfax reporter tweeted a rather spooky photo of Dutton encased in shadow at a press conference. His team asked that the "unflattering" photo be deleted.
!["We are doing everything within our power to provide support to people": Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.](/web/20160821070454im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/y/p/1/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqvapd.png/1471557934376.jpg)
Last year Dutton declared Fairfax was running a "jihad" against the Abbott government and was intent on its destruction.
Now it's the ABC and The Guardian out to get him.
The Immigration Minister appeared on the ABC's AM program on Thursday morning and there was plenty to discuss.
Dutton and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill had just announced their plans to shut down the detention centre on Manus Island. And then there were the 2000 leaked incident reports from Nauru, published last week, that included disturbing allegations of self-harm and sexual assault.
![A boom microphone picks up the private conversation of Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton last year.](/web/20160821070454im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/q/j/i/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqvapd.png/1471557934376.jpg)
Here was the perfect platform, one might think, to put some facts on the table and calmly present his side of the story.
But no.
To describe the Immigration Minister's approach as as "shooting the messenger" would be like saying Usain Bolt runs at a decent clip or Gina Rinehart is alright for cash. This was an all-out assault, a heavy artillery blitz.
Like Donald Trump in the US, Dutton is mad as hell at the media and he isn't going to take it any more.
"The ABC reporting on The Guardian's reports who report on the ABC's reports do not help people in these centres," Dutton said, slamming those in the "cheap seats" criticising the government.
Presenter Michael Brissenden ploughed on. Would Dutton comment on reports that he had been given a detailed dossier in May about the "numerous child rights violations" occurring on Nauru?
"Well again [you're asking me] to comment on the ABC commenting on the Guardian reports," Dutton said.
An exasperated Brissenden told Dutton he thought he was being a "little unfair".
"I'm just asking you if the reports are true or not," he said.
Dutton was having none of it. There was a victim of mistreatment everyone seems to be overlooking: him.
"I'm not going to be defamed by The Guardian and by the ABC because we are doing everything within our power to provide support to people," Dutton replied.
Drawing on his time as a Queensland police officer, Dutton said: "I've spent much of my professional career investigating sexual assaults and arresting people for that.
"I take these issues very seriously. Like all Australians I abhor any violence."
Media organisations making a big deal of the allegations in the Nauru files, he said, were not serving the public interest but rather "trivialising" serious issues.
Many of the leaked reports, he insisted, were about parents punishing their children or asylum seekers fighting with each other. To focus exclusively on the claims of abuse was wrong.
"I think people should be a little more circumspect," he said, before accusing aid charity Save the Children of leaking the incident reports to the media in a bid to damage the government.
Soon after the interview was over, Save the Children strongly denied the "false" claim and essentially accused Dutton of making it up.
Circumspection, indeed, seems to be in short supply.
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