There was apparent division within the Turnbull government too, as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop talked down the idea of a special program for white South African farmers.

But Mr Dutton on Thursday said there was no conflict between himself and Ms Bishop, arguing it was actually confected outrage by "crazy lefties" at media outlets who were peddling "fake news".

"The ABC and others report these things how they want to report them and how they want to interpret them," he told 2GB radio.

"There's lots of outrage. Some of the crazy lefties at the ABC and on The Guardian, Huffington Post, express concern and draw mean cartoons about me and all the rest of it."

"They don't realise how completely dead they are to me. So we just get on with making the decisions that we need to."