The immigration minister Peter Dutton defended his boycott on ABC's Q&A in 2010.

"I regarded it as something which was not going to deliver tangible outcomes to kids who are being raped and tortured in communities in the 21st century," Dutton said.

"Now, if I thought for a moment that it was going to deliver positive outcomes to those kids, to their families, to those communities, then I would support it in a heartbeat."

