Not long after I became immigration minister, Labor senator Robert Ray – a former immigration minister himself – sidled across the chamber to share a few words. He said I should know that he would never challenge me in the Parliament on an individual case. Having had the job he understood the terribly difficult decisions that have to be made.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is standing firm on the deportation of the Sri Lankan family. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

There’s usually more than one side to a story. The minister will often know what the public doesn’t and that many of the immigration cases that get to the public’s attention are there to pull heartstrings so rules or policies can be broken. It was very decent of him to share that advice. It was all true.

One of the things an immigration minister might rapidly develop a dislike for is those who, in a sense, use the applicant as a means of advertising their own virtuous compassion or straight political opportunism. I admit to reflecting on whether some of the protesters and advocates did anything privately, in their normal lives, to demonstrate how much they cared for others. Something that put some skin in the game, that required effort. Some did. And plenty didn’t. Talk is cheap.

We have rules to have an orderly immigration program. It goes back to us being a sovereign state and we, through our government, decide who we let in. Unfortunately and perhaps understandably we find people who don’t accept the rules. They hope to and do use the media and our heartstrings to make an exception for them.