The Minister for Home Affairs
The Hon Peter Dutton MP
Dear Mr Dutton,
Tuesday’s Guardian reports (and http://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/peterdutton/Pages/Interview-with-Chris-Kenny.aspx
confirms), ‘Victorians are “scared to go out to restaurants” because of
“African gang violence”, Peter Dutton has said, in an interview attacking the
supposed lack of deterrence of crime in Victoria.
Please tell me the data to
support this statement.
•
What is the number of people who scared to go out to restaurants?
•
How was the data obtained?
•
Which regions or suburbs does it apply to?
The Guardian reports further,
‘Dutton blamed Daniel Andrews,
calling for the premier to pass stricter bail laws and to stop appointing
“civil libertarians” as magistrates.’
Please tell me which magistrates
do you consider to be civil libertarians. The people of Victoria need to know
this.
You are reported as saying,
‘… the reality is people are
scared to go out to restaurants of a night time because they’re followed home
by these gangs, home invasion and cars are stolen.’
How many people does your data
show
•
have been followed home by “these” gangs
•
have suffered home invasions
•
have had their cars stolen?
If you can’t or won’t provide
these data your statement must be considered bullshit*.
If you can’t or won’t provide
these data the anti-South Sudanese ‘gangs’ campaign by you, Mr Turnbull and Mr
Hunt must be considered supremely and cynically political.
John Howard’s ‘children
overboard’ campaign was demonstrably political and is now known to be baseless
in fact. In short he used the lives of human, in that case refugees, as a
political weapon.
You appear to be doing the same.
Yours sincerely,
Stewart Jackel
sent: 3 January 2018
*Bullshit is described as a
statement without reference to fact. Conversely a lie contradicts a fact.
I will publish the reply to this email as soon as it arrives - due 29 January.
