In November 2016 Dutton, then the immigration minister, told Sky News’s Andrew Bolt that “the reality is that Malcolm Fraser did make mistakes in bringing some people in the 1970s and we’re seeing that today”.
Dutton then doubled down in question time, claiming Fraser should not have let people of “Lebanese-Muslim” background into Australia by citing as evidence a small cohort of individuals who have been charged with terrorism offences.
In 2023, when asked by Annabel Crabb on the ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet if it was a racist remark, Dutton replied: “You know they’re comments that I shouldn’t have made. I’ve apologised for that.”
Five leaders of Australia’s Lebanese Muslim community interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald reportedly said they have no recollection of Dutton making that apology.