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Peter Dutton has demanded an apology from the media for their reporting on the demographics of inmates currently detained in The Manus Regional Processing Centre.
The Minister for Immigration says that journalists had “morphed into advocates” and “lost control of any dispassionate view of this circumstance” by using terms like ‘kids’ and ‘children’ to describe detainees under the age of 13.
Dutton said the ABC and Fairfax Media, among others, had relied on the testimony of Papua New Guinean politicians and police as authorities on the best words to use when describing young humans currently caged in one of two offshore Australian immigration detention facilities, located on Los Negros Island in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea.
When asked by Insiders host Barry Cassidy what he had been referring to non-adult detainees as, Dutton appeared perplexed.
“I don’t know, mate… Pups? Calves? I’m not sure. It’s not exactly my job to be up to date with every cultural nuance of these people”
“I thought they automatically become Papua New Guineans if they were born there.”
“Either way, the ABC’s irresponsible use of words like ‘kids’ and ‘children’ gives off the wrong impression”
“It makes them sound like Aussies”
