The former prime minister Tony Abbott has sided with Peter Dutton’s call for white South African farmers to be protected in Australia, warning of a “national crisis” and alleging farmers are being “brutally murdered”.
After fierce criticism from South Africa over the home affairs minister’s call for “special treatment”, several Turnbull government ministers including Julie Bishop and Mathias Cormann have publicly stressed the nondiscriminatory nature of the humanitarian visa program.
Dutton kicked off the debate last week when he suggested the South African farmers deserve “special attention” for immigration to Australia, which he described as a “civilised country”.
This prompted outrage from the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, who accused Dutton of racism. The South African government demanded a full retraction for his comments that white farmers faced “horrific circumstances”.
On Monday Abbott told 2GB Radio there is “a very serious situation developing in South Africa”.
“Something like 400 white farmers have been murdered – brutally murdered over the last 12 months,” he said.
“Just imagine the reaction here in Australia if a comparable number of farmers had been brutally murdered by squatters intent on driving them off their land ... we would say this is a national crisis.”
Gareth Newham at the Institute for Security Studies, one of South Africa’s leading authorities on crime statistics, has said there was no evidence to support the notion that white farmers were targeted more than anyone else in the country.
“In fact, young black males living in poor urban areas like Khayelitsha and Lange face a far greater risk of being murdered. The murder rate there is between 200 and 300 murders per 100,000 people,” he said. Even the highest estimates of farm murders stand at 133 per 100,000 people, and that includes both black and white murder victims.
Abbott said the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, had encouraged parliament to pass a law allowing expropriation of land without compensation.
“If the boot was on the other foot we’d call it racism of the worst sort. I think we should acknowledge this as a very, very serious issue of justice, fairness, and freedom for people trying to do the right thing – feed their country.
“I think Peter Dutton was absolutely right that under our humanitarian immigration program there ought to be a place for people who are being persecuted in this way.”
Bishop, the foreign minister, said on Sunday that Australia would be not be making special visa considerations for white South African farmers and refused to back Dutton’s claim the group deserved “special treatment” over alleged persecution.
“I believe the humanitarian program’s credibility comes from the fact that it is nondiscriminatory and that each application is assessed on its merits,” Bishop said.
“That’s been the case under the Turnbull government, and as far as I’m aware, there are no plans to change that visa program.”
On Monday the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, said Australia’s humanitarian program “is nondiscriminatory, and that means it is open to white South African farmers who feel persecuted on the same basis that it is available to others”.
Cormann said South Africans were “one of many migrant communities making a great contribution”.
“It’s not a matter of being put to the top of the queue – it’s a matter of being open in a nondiscriminatory fashion to provide assistance to people facing persecution.
“As I understand it Peter Dutton has asked his department for some options on what might appropriately be able to be done and he’s best to continue to explain what he’s intending to do and on what basis.”