Is Tuckey just Turnbull’s dog whistle on boat people?

SM says:

01:39pm | 22/10/09

Given that it’simpossible to categorically guarantee the reverse, Mr Tuckey is correct.

Slow day for news

BMJ says:

01:44pm | 22/10/09

The Coalition is using fear, there’s no doubt about that. It’s effective. George W. Bush tactics at it’s finest.

DigiDave says:

01:44pm | 22/10/09

We have already granted residency for someone who delivery set alight a boat causing the deaths of 5 people.  Why would I want a neighbour like that ?  Wilson Tuckey is entitled to his opinion. It’s only Rudd’s team where everyone has to have Rudd’s opinion or get kicked out.

T.Chong says:

01:45pm | 22/10/09

The Turnbull faction is scared of confronting the extreme right wing flat earthers of Tuckey and fellow travellers, hence no criticism, and some relief that this lunatic has shifted focus.
I also believe that some tacit deal was made to let the neanderthal Right spew forth this rubbish.
Remember how Howard and his govt tried to imply that the Tampa was full of wold be terrorists.?
The evil Muslim,refugee, terrorist card will be played long and hard by the Libs,as they have very little else,now, since the GFC is on the wane as an issue.

John A Neve says:

01:45pm | 22/10/09

Come on, no one takes Wilson Tuckey seriously, do they?

Greg Atkinson says:

01:50pm | 22/10/09

What a media beat up. What Tuckey said is simply a warning (and a valid one) and the Sri Lankan community in Australia have also raised similar concerns.

This sounds like another Senator Fielding media feeding frenzy.

ex-libris says:

01:53pm | 22/10/09

Ah democracy. It’s how a tool like Wilson Tuckey keeps getting elected. 

O’Connor, a WA wheatbelt seat with Geraldton as one of its major centres, has returned Tuckey (Liberal) with resounding majorities since 1980, in the absence of a coherent federal Nationals (Country Party as was) presence in WA.

The fact that the good people of O’Connor keep returning this bloke in spite of his repeated antics and his litany of abject failures,  and without troubling themselves or their Party for a better candidate (a spavined dog would do), remains one of the quirks of our political party & electoral systems.

The man is a parasite, a troll, and a lasting discredit to the the Liberal Party and the Parliament of Australia.

Eric says:

02:06pm | 22/10/09

Wilson Tuckey is speaking truth to power. Some don’t want to hear it.

I’m more concerned about the dog whistlers who seek to imply that anyone who supports a fair and rational immigration policy is some sort of rabid xenophobic extremist.

Kevin says:

02:06pm | 22/10/09

Who said Democracy was perfect? It’s not, and Wilson Tuckey is testament to that but it’s still the best system around.

S says:

02:23pm | 22/10/09

Kevin, best system no doubt, agree wholly.

And if Tuckey is the best the electors of O’Connor can bring themselves to offer us as their representative in our National Parliament, it says more about *them* than anything else.  Bone lazy, I’d call it. Either that or sheer bloody-minded. Cutting their noses off to spite their faces, in short.

It wouldn’t matter so much if Tuckey only represented *them*. But that’s a lesson the broad electorate has to rub candidates noses in, from time to time. Their obligations are
a) to all the electors -indeed all the population - of their seat
b) to their Party, and
c) to the Nation.
But Tuckey is there for one thing only: Tuckey.

Still, there’s a dim gleam of hope. He can’t sit forever, and they cannot ever, surely, find anyone more offensively ineffective than him. Can they?

T.Chong says:

02:34pm | 22/10/09

Eric 3:36pm : no one should have a prob with a “fair and rational” debate about this or any other topic,but I feel you are very generous in implying that Tuckey brings either quality to the debate, or anything else of late. He knows his audience, and unfortunately for some this just adds to their fears and/or prejudice

Eric says:

02:56pm | 22/10/09

T. Chong, you criticise Wilson Tuckey’s fair and rational points, but you don’t bring any fair and rational points of your own.

This isn’t debate, it’s just ad-hom smearing.

Do you have any fair and rational answers to Tuckey’s points?

Carl Palmer says:

03:08pm | 22/10/09

I agree – slow news day and one of Wilson’s milder statements. If anyone believes that it wouldn’t be a possibility given the times we live in, then they are living in lah lah land. I might be wrong, but 5 blokes were recently found guilty of a charge of conspiring to commit an act, or acts, in preparation for a terrorist attack and I don’t think these 5 blokes had an ancestry that linked them back to Captain Cook.

Ansett says:

03:32pm | 22/10/09

“any fair and rational answers to Tuckey’s points?”
I have. 

The fallacy of supposedly boat-borne terroristas has been, umm, exploded oops, no, sorry, shot to bits… oh dear…umm… shot down in flames oh gosh…left dead in the water…oh blimey, hang on…

...aah! *totally, fairly and rationally* refuted so many times that it is quite eccentric to trot the claim out yet again. And more so, to defend it as fair and rational.

Mr Tuckey and Eric must *surely* have noticed that the other way/s of arriving (without fuss and with innocent intent or otherwise) have been *extensively* canvassed here and elsewhere. At much length, over the last week and repeatedly, earlier.

But, in order not to give any potential naughty audience ideas they just possibly might not already have, I’ll not repeat them here. Even though those ways are well known and a more sensible problem to address. Eh, Eric.

Fair, rational, truth.  Not Mr Tuckey’s long suits, mate, seriously.

Youngster says:

03:33pm | 22/10/09

The man makes sense. If you were a terrorist and you were trying to sneak into a country, this would be a good way to do it! No papers, no ID, no way to do background checks. You could become a new person very easily.

Tuckey hits a nerve because he has a habit of saying the commonsense things that no other politician has the guts to say.

Voxpop says:

03:41pm | 22/10/09

Tuckey loves the dog whistle but it’s only the lap-dogs that are brought to heel, while the rest of us just see him as the joke he is.

Bruce says:

03:43pm | 22/10/09

K Rudd, seriously we now can not have an opinion? Tuckey is entitled to his opinion. I guess he says what many people think, and he makes a point.  The security of our nation is paramount, you have to look at all options and assumptions, no matter how stupid it looks or sounds. Our enemies certainly do. Do we really know who these boat people are? Thats why we have character and security checks on everyone that comes into Australia.  Unfortunately, our security systems has failed us many times in the past.

Guff says:

03:45pm | 22/10/09

Youngster, spouting the first thing that comes in to your head takes neither courage nor brains. He’s not some passing yobbo scribbling some one-line hate message in your local bush shelter. He’s one of our elected representatives.

Hits a nerve my fat foot. Foolish nonsense sputtered by an adult paid to do better. Such guff stands in need of firm rebuttal. We call it democracy.
.

TOM says:

03:48pm | 22/10/09

A recent survey stated Mr Tuckey was the biggest fool in australia. I agree

photog says:

03:49pm | 22/10/09

On a lighter note, anyone notice where Tuckey is?

The snap’s in Old Parliament House! Wonder when? Why?

Funny -well, just a tiny bit ironic, maybe.

Rowdy says:

03:50pm | 22/10/09

Whilst I think the odds are long that amongst the “arrivals” there may be people with ill-intent, we must be vigilante and get the checks and screenings correct….. ...every time. Those with ill-intent only need get it right once.

Rod says:

03:51pm | 22/10/09

Rudd’s comment that it’s odd’s of 2 or 3 to 1 (of having a future terrorist aboard”, means that there is a very HIGH chance there will be such a person. Is Kevin really Australian where he’s got no idea of odds?
I’d love him to be my bookie.

Cuppa says:

04:02pm | 22/10/09

Thank god Wilson Tuckey has the B*lls to say what many people are thinking.We just gave residency to a group of people who deliberatly set their boat alight & killed five people as well as risking the lives of our navy personel.To me this shows that many of these so called ‘Assylum Seekers’ are prepared to break our laws(& kill)to get what they want so the potential to be a terrorist is very real.But unfortunetly kevin Dudd & his weak followers cant see the obvious.

Eric says:

04:11pm | 22/10/09

Ansett, a mere unsupported claim that a position has been disproved, is not a refutation of that position.

You need to provide a reasoned rebuttal, not just a fantasy.

Go back to logic class, and try again.

gutless says:

04:13pm | 22/10/09

Sorry, guts don’t cut it. He back-pedalled as soon as he could, off camera. No guts there. None.

Kevin says:

04:18pm | 22/10/09

Bruce, of course Tuckey has a right to an opinion, but in his position he must take this right responsibly. And if Tuckey has a right to an opinion then KRudd has the right to his opinion, as do I, as do you. Mine is that Tuckey is a dangerous idiot.

Ansett says:

04:33pm | 22/10/09

No problemo, Eric.

There is zero evidence that any asylum seekers who have arrived in Australia by boat have connections to terrorism. 

In August 2002, the Director-General of ASIO told Parliament that of 5,986 boat arrivals, not one was found to be a security risk. (Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Human Rights Subcommittee, 22 August 2002).

The facts on the detaining and checking of people who arrive without documents are expained in exhaustive detail on the AHRC site, and further reading can be found through the APH Background Note on Refugees and asylum seekers: a guide to key electronic resources.

You’re confusing brevity with lack of substance. Tough.

humbug says:

04:49pm | 22/10/09

Ansett, Eric’s having a it of a lend of you.  Tuckey’s claim was just as unsupported.

Besides, you’re right. We already *know* how most people get here, and all in comfort and safety.

If you were a baddie, would you choose to come by crappy boat to sink and be intercepted, straight into close detention and attention of the authorities? Yeah,  yeah, ‘course you would.  Jeesus, Eric.

hoofman says:

05:10pm | 22/10/09

Have a good look at the pic of Wilson Tuckey, you rusted-on Liberal supporters. That’s the future of your party.

Eric says:

05:26pm | 22/10/09

Well jeez, Ansett, why didn’t you say that the first time?

It was nothing to do with brevity, as Humbug falsely claims. You just spouted insults without a single word of fact to back them up.

Let this be a lesson to you. Try to use facts and logic, rather than namecalling and blather.

Daniel says:

05:50pm | 22/10/09

Tuckey is just another relic of the Howard deadwood personally. He thinks likeHoward and he really is just in their sucking on the Australian tax payers. His views are not worth listening to. The media should just ignore him.

Ansett says:

08:13pm | 22/10/09

Eric appears to be confused. My remarks may have been wry, but without personal insult. And the fact is, as I said in the first place, in perfectly good rebuttal of an unspoorted assertion,  the arrivals by *boat* are, well, a drop in the ocean of arrivals. Eric knows it. Tuckey knows it. We all know it.

Ansett signing off

Chase Stevens says:

08:42pm | 22/10/09

Why would you sneak into australia on an illegal immigrant boat? When it’s likely that you will be thrown into a detention centre? Wouldn’t it be easier to obtain a student visa, or a tourist visa? Tuckey is just a remnant.

Fergus says:

09:34pm | 22/10/09

Please Eric, stop disguising (however thinly) your xenophobia and ignorance, with smugness and taking the moral high ground.

Anyone who doesn’t straight out dismiss Ironbar Tuckey as a complete racist joke, is a joke themselves. That means you, bucko.

Look at the evidence.

And don’t try and deny Tuckey is a racist pig, he beat an Aborigine with a steel rod. Among other things.

Yon Toad says:

10:54pm | 22/10/09

Ho hum, another one of PM Prissy’s attack lapdogs goes the bleat about the Libs. Oh the vileness, oh the horror, oh the evil!!! - for Christ’s sake Tory M loosen your grip, you’re supposed to be a journalist not a prime-ministerial handmaiden. What did Tuckey say that was so repugnant?

Get Real says:

02:21am | 23/10/09

Unfortunately for Kevvie and all the naive bleeding hearts that jumped on the bandwagon so quickly to demonise Wilson Tuckey (the guy is just a loon) for his terrorist comments rather than just ignoring it…as it turned out there is some truth to Mad Uncle Tuckey’s comments. Over night a wanted terrorist was found onboard a boat of Sri Lankan asylum seekers that just arrived in Canada. Too funny!

Biff says:

06:58am | 23/10/09

Tory, where was your outrage in June when ALP MP Mr Danby said the same thing? Your feigned indignation makes you look silly.

Anthony L says:

07:19am | 23/10/09

Ha! And you all think Wilson Tuckey is crazy? He has just been justified:

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2130108#ixzz0UhPhrsRj

Kimberley says:

07:59am | 23/10/09

I think Tuckeys comments have been way over exagerated by Labor, just to shift the attention back to Turnbull. What Tuckey said was no big deal and could be partly true. Rudds over exageration and response is a laugh, stop trying to turn the focus on to Turnbull Mr Rudd when ever you find yourself in a difficult position. Playing the moral high ground Mr Rudd looks cheap and desperate in this case.

Greensborough Growler says:

08:00am | 23/10/09

If Tuckey didn’t exist Rudd would have to invent him.

Needing an example of Liberal rhetorical extremism to offset criticisms that Kev is too harsh on the asylum seekers, in blunders Wilson to oblige. Bonus points for due assistance from Turnbull for his ineptitude in allowing Kev to define what the Libs believe.

It’s Christmas every day for Labor under Turnbull’s Opposition.

phil says:

08:21am | 23/10/09

As with all rightwing loonies, Tuckey’s projection of his own fear onto the ignorant amongst us is exposed again. This is an excellent time to examine his and his ilk’s lack of intelligence and why his leader won’t sack him. He is able to hide among those of good intentions and even lesser intelligence in the Liberal party enabling him to slither into parliament. They therefore think all groups have bad eggs in their ranks and at one level they’re right. The issue is of course, they and their type are usually the bad eggs. They’re just awful people or too ignorant to see it. So never forget how effective a primeval scare campaign can be. Its power should never be underestimated. Let’s face it, it got a man like Howard elected to P.M. of this great country for almost 12 dark long years. Yes, it seems unbelievable these days, another shameful blight in our history books which is great for educating our kids. Which reminds me; can someone please inform that Iron-bar that a Tamil Tiger is not a wild man-eating cat and Sri Lanka used to be called Ceylon. It is that little island where they grow tea just to the right of the southern tip of India.

watty says:

08:25am | 23/10/09

What “can of worms”?

The Federal Police issued a similar warning with no dummy spit from Rudd.

Rudd has lost the plot on illegal immigrants and has made a complete tosser of himself by “demanding’ of Turnbull that Tuckey shouldn’t be preselected.

He,Rudd, is no more than a pious little ponce who like his fellow “Progressive” Obama has a glass chin.

What terrorist is going to come by boat? A dedicated one. A clever one..One listens to Rudd and the Comrades saying it would never happen.

Tuckeydid us all a favour yesterday but committed a grave crime.Putting a dent in Rudd’s ego and pomposity is a hanging offence.

westie says:

08:28am | 23/10/09

HOW DARE WILSON TUCKEY tell the truth.

Peter says:

08:32am | 23/10/09

What people seem to forget that, as far as suicide terrorism is concerned, the Tamils far outstripped anything commiteed by radical Islam.  Don’t believe me? 

That’s what academic Robert Pape found in his research for his book, ‘Dying to Win’.  He found that the world’s leading practitioners of suicide terrorism are the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a Marxist-Leninist group drawn from Hindu families; 95% of suicide terrorist attacks are organised by large militant organisations with significant public support;  and despite their rhetoric, western democracies have routinely made concessions to suicide terrorists. Suicide terrorism is on the rise because terrorists have learned that it’s effective.

There’s no moral difference between blowing yourself up and scuttling your own ship on the high seas.  They are both means to a political end.  And soft western democracies are notorious to giving in to coercion.

Still think I’m a right-wing dog-whistler?  The Age, the Canberra Times and the UK Guardian all strongly endorsed Pape’s findings.

Jeremy C Browne says:

09:14am | 23/10/09

It speaks volumes for Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership that he distanced himself from Wilson Tuckey’s comments on the link between terrorists and illegal immigrants.  What did Tuckey say that so offended Turnabull and our panicky PM?  None other than the Sri Lankan Government yesterday warned that LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) members could be among those onboard the vessel offloaded to Indonesia.  Over 32 countries worldwide regard the LTTE as a terrorist organization.  In short, Tuckey was absolutely right.  Rudd’s soft border protection laws, namely the windback of restrictions of illegal immigrants in Australia, has lured countless numbers to Australia and it would be the perfect cover for anyone pursuing terrorist activities.  At least 42 people have died trying to reach Auystralia since Kevin Rudd came to power and they won’t stop trying until he acknowledges that it’s his soft policies that are luring them to Australia.  It’s apparently everyone’s fault except his.  Rudd says nothing withour consulting his pr people first.  He was no doubt told to use the term ‘illegal immigrant’ when launching his ‘tough’ Indonesian solution last week but refuses to do in parliament, preferring, like Malcolm Turnbull to use the deceptive term ‘asylum seeker.’  Once again, would the real Kevin Rudd stand up?  Tuckey should take over the Liberal leadership.  At least we would have a real choice at the next election.  The left of centre Rudd/Turnbull with their phony attempts to look tough and someone who actually is tough, is not intimidated by the media and reflects Australian conservative values.  A phony Rudd versus a real Tuckey.  Bring it on!

Lisa says:

09:39am | 23/10/09

This was just a beat up by a nervous RUDD. Tuckeys comment has an element of truth to it. To try and drag Turnbulls Leadership into question once again is making Rudd look desperate. The longer Turnbull stays as Leader the more desperate and uncomfortable it makes Rudd look. Hang in there Turnbull!

dice says:

10:14am | 23/10/09

there is more scrutiny of refugees than of any person who flies in on a bogus passport. how many took a boat in and blew up the twin towers in America. these people are not terrorists they are simply looking for somewhere safe to live. what would you have our government do, go against international law and just push them out into the ocean, or maybe make another country take on our responsibilities. each and every country in this world has agreed to give people in need a safe home. just like we have done in the past to each and every Australian who is not indigenous. seems if you have a lot of money you can just walk in the door and become an Australian via business migration but if you have nothing we don’t want you here. not a very good standard to choose people by.

dice says:

10:14am | 23/10/09

there is more scrutiny of refugees than of any person who flies in on a bogus passport. how many took a boat in and blew up the twin towers in America. these people are not terrorists they are simply looking for somewhere safe to live. what would you have our government do, go against international law and just push them out into the ocean, or maybe make another country take on our responsibilities. each and every country in this world has agreed to give people in need a safe home. just like we have done in the past to each and every Australian who is not indigenous. seems if you have a lot of money you can just walk in the door and become an Australian via business migration but if you have nothing we don’t want you here. not a very good standard to choose people by.

Jim says:

11:03am | 23/10/09

So much bitterness over such a small issue. Uncle Wilson however may be providing a healthy outlet for a few hate filled folk to get some of it off their chests.

Haggis says:

11:41am | 23/10/09

Fergus @10.34pm -    steel bar, beat, Aborigine . . .  no he didn’t.

Mr Tuckey says it was a piece of 100-amp cable. At the time he was a publican and reckons he was evicting the man from his hotel in Carnarvon - way back in 1967.

Steve says:

11:43am | 23/10/09

A couple of months ago a labour backbencher came out with a similar statement, where was mr Rudds rightious inignation then,
Why is the opposition the issue when the Government has done a double flip with pike and brought in a system that is worse than the one they dismantled with such fan fair. Some members of the media should stop getting their copy from the ALP Spin masters.

stu says:

12:07pm | 23/10/09

I can picture the scene now. In a concentration camp in east Sri Lanka, two former LTTE rebels are talking. One is a former Tamil Tiger commander, the other is his weapon of choice. The commander says: “I have been told of a wonderful plan. I want you to escape from this camp tonight. Find a group of refugees. Mingle in amongst them. Arrive in Malaysia. Buy passage on a rickety, old and thoroughly unsafe fishing boat. Head out into the Indian Ocean. Almost die of thirst, starvation or in a tropical storm. Head for a tiny dot in the ocean called Christmas Island. Allow the boat to be intercepted by the Indonesian Navy and for you to be transported to Indonesia. Be detained in a camp for however many months or years it takes to process you. Maybe get a visa to enter Australia. Once there, commit some act of terrorism.”
The accomplice isn’t sure. “But, isn’t our argument against the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government, here… in Sri Lanka? Aren’t we fighting for a Tamil homeland, here… in Sri Lanka? Should our actions be undertaken here, in Sri Lanka, in order to publicise our cause to other Sri Lankans?”
The commander replies: “Don’t argue with me. I got this idea from Wilson Tuckey. Like everything he says, this plan makes perfect sense!”

Nick says:

01:27pm | 23/10/09

I think people are missing the point entirely. Mr Tuckey didn’t say that “all asylum seekers are terrorists”. He pointed out that it would be entirely possible for them to be amongst the influx.

Statistically speaking he is correct. When you have zero boat loads of people seeking asylum in Australia per year the opportunity for terrorists to be on board is also zero. As the number of boats increases, so to the likelihood. While this likelihood is considerably small, it is a possibility anyway you look at it.

I for one am dismayed by Mr Rudds “outrage” at this comment; which only serves to show that he has limited capacity in dealing with aspects of border security.

Fergus says:

01:53pm | 23/10/09

Oh okay Haggis, sorry! If it was a length of 100-amp cable, that’s okay then!

Well if he says it was to evict the bloke, then I spose the beating was justified. You’re right.

The man’s got serious race issues, don’t insult everyone’s intelligence by denying it. Hell, if it wasn’t publically frowned upon, he’d flaunt his thoughts, you know he would.

I think everyone should have a read of Mike Baird’s piece on this site, one of the only sensible voices in this debate.

paulh says:

03:13pm | 23/10/09

Tuckey has only said what a labor backbencher said a few weeks ago and also reflecting the same concernc that the fed police/customs/immigration have.Tthis is not scaremongering as Canada have just uncovered a known terrorist on a boatload of illegal immigrants.Rduu is a hypocrit he wants to be seen as doing the right thing or it will go against his own personal ambitions for a seat on the un.This has nothing to do with australia its about Rudd.

watty says:

04:09pm | 23/10/09

My memory recalls Kym Beazely raising the spectre of terrorists arriving by boat around 2001/2002 when he was pushing for an Australian Coast Guard to take up dutIes being performed by the R.A.N.
Don’t remeber a Labor backlash.

Carl Palmer says:

04:34pm | 23/10/09

@Nick says: 02:27pm | 23/10/09

I’m with you, makes perfect sense to me.

Re the PM yep - went totally overboard (where he should have stayed) on this. I guess he had to try and show how tuff he was. Much to do about nothing.

AM says:

09:27pm | 23/10/09

Wilson Tuckey only said these things to create division and give the redneck base some sort of validity to their extreme views. So why doesn’t he say that there is a likelyhood that that the next plane from Islamabad may have a terrorist on board. Given the situation in Pakistan, this too could be a probability.  The fact of the matter, his comments were designed to add fuel to the fire and demonise asylum seekers…plain and simple. The Labor party member’s words did not contain the venom of Mr Tuckey’s and were used in the context of discussing a bill in Parliament. No comparison. Seriously, Wilson Tuckey knew what he was doing, and Turnbull will just let him say things he wouldn’t…. it is all quite convenient really..

Mike J says:

09:56pm | 23/10/09

Tory, you look a lot older than twelve. Put the lid back on what can of worms? Precious Rudd-lovers like you try to distort everything in Rudd’s favour. How does pointing out there could be 1 terrorist among 100 illegals mean they could (or are) ALL be terrorists? You’ll be running back under your ‘journalistic’ rock in a few days.

Paul Prentice says:

10:58am | 29/10/09

By pass that disgusting ideology “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS” and Wilson Tuckey is right in what he says, its easy to see what politicians are working for Australia’s interests now, and see who is licking the backside of that communist regime the United Nations