Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has attacked the refugee policies of former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser, saying they are partly to blame for Australia's struggle with foreign fighters travelling to international conflict zones.
Responding to criticism from right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt, Mr Dutton said on Thursday many foreign fighters travelling to conflict zones in the Middle East were the children or grandchildren of migrants who settled in Australia during the Fraser government in the 1970s and 1980s.
"The reality is Malcolm Fraser did make mistakes in bringing some people in the 1970s and we're seeing that today," he told Sky News.
"We need to be honest in having that discussion. There was a mistake made."
Mr Dutton said Australia should learn the lessons of past migration programs as it settles new arrivals in the community today.
During the Fraser government, as many as 200,000 migrants arrived in Australia from Asia, as part of policies focused on multiculturalism and resettlement.
More than 16,000 Lebanese migrants arrived in Australia following Lebanon's 1976 civil war, prompting warnings from immigration authorities about the risk of temporary changes to eligibility standards for new arrivals.
Cabinet records released in 2007 showed officials believed many of the Lebanese refugees lacked qualities considered important to integration in Australia, while some were viewed as unskilled, illiterate and of poor character.
The Fraser government also resettled about 50,000 Vietnamese refugees and boat people in Australia.
Before his death in 2015, Mr Fraser defended his government's policies and rejected links between refugee arrivals and racial tensions in contemporary Australia.
Mr Dutton linked recent gang activity in Victoria involving young people from newly arrived African communities, including former Sudanese refugees, with "weak" law and order policies from state Labor governments.
"If it can be demonstrated that we have a significant proportion of a particular community - we're talking about the Sudanese community in this instance - then we need to work out what's gone wrong," he said.
"We do review the program each year, and if we feel there are problems with particular cohorts, particular nationalities, particular people who might not be integrating well and not contributing well, then there are many other worthy recipients who seek to come to a country like ours and make an opportunity their own."
The federal government is working with state police forces to try to identify people of poor character and will seek to cancel visas if necessary, Mr Dutton said.
The comments came as a newly established parliamentary inquiry prepares to consider resettlement outcomes for migrants to Australia, including community services, the importance of English language skills and whether existing migration processes adequately assess resettlement prospects.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he supported the inquiry but accused Mr Dutton of trying to distract from the Coalition's own failures on migration.
"Immigration has been part of the Australian development," he said on Friday.
"We've always got to make sure we get the balance right, we've got to get the right mix of skilled migrants and family reunion but I think Mr Dutton is trying to distract from having some discussion about bagging a former Liberal prime minister."
