Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has slammed Labor’s stance on immigration as they await the court’s decision over the fate of the Sri Lankan family. 

Several senior Labor figures are publically urging the government to intervene and reverse its decision to send the Tamil family back to Sri Lanka.

The husband, wife and two Australian-born children are being held on Christmas Island, ahead of a court decision to be announced tomorrow.

The government and several courts have repeatedly found the family are not legitimate refugees.

Mr Dutton tells Steve Price the Opposition is repeating past mistakes.

“The fact is that Mr Albanese was one of the senior ministers who sat around the table in both Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard’s government and made decisions which resulted in 1200 people drowning at sea.

“I’m sure he feels guilt from that day and I have sympathy for Richard Marles and others who were in senior positions, Tony Burke, Chris Bowen, they were immigration ministers making these horrible decisions where people ended up drowning at sea. Now they have that blood on their hands, they’ll always live with that.

“Mr Albanese just reinforces in people’s minds why Labor can’t be trusted when it comes to border protection.

“I’ve not had a death at sea on my watch and I’m not going to change the policy now which would see that start again.”

Click PLAY to hear the full interview

Image: Getty/ Bloomberg