When we asked you, our Hack listeners, what questions you had for Peter Dutton, we were flooded with responses.

Many asked when Australia will resettle over 1600 people currently waiting in offshore detention centres on Manus and Nauru.

One person wanted to know if Mr Dutton was afraid to go out at night in Melbourne, following his comments on the "African gang problem".

A few you asked if he wanted to run for PM (he didn't rule it out).

The Minister for Home Affairs joined us on Hack to answer your questions.

Immigration

As well as being in charge of home affairs, Mr Dutton is the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, a portfolio he told Hack can be a "controversial one, but also a rewarding one".

That controversy includes Australia's current immigration policy, which Mr Dutton admits is "tough".

"But we are bringing in more refugees under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees humanitarian program," he said.

Right now there are around 1600 people in offshore processing centres on Nauru and in Papua New Guinea, according to the latest statistics from the Refugee Council of Australia.

Under Australia's current immigration policy, those who are in detention won't ever be allowed to resettle here. And that's not going to change.

Mr Dutton said he doesn't want anyone on Manus and Nauru and "wants to get them out".

"I didn't put them there, that's the situation I've inherited," he told Hack.

In 2013, former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd announced a deal with Papua New Guinea to process asylum seekers offshore. He said "any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees".

Since then, Australia has sent more than 3,100 men, women and children to offshore processing.

I've got no children in detention," Mr Dutton said.

Hack listener Emmy, from Canberra, asked the Minister what was being done to address the health care needs of asylum seekers on Manus Island.

Mt Dutton said there's been "tens of millions of dollars" put into hospitals and health clinics to help treat refugees, and discarded claims that there has been a spike in refugees self harming as "incorrect".

"There was a spike in self harm attempts on Nauru when people knew they could come to Australia for medical attention," he said.

"We've seen a significant fall off in the number of people self harming and that's because we've said we're not taking you to Australia unless you require medical services."

But human rights advocates disagree

Twelve people have died on Manus and Nauru while under Australia's care. Two days ago, journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani, who is currently in detention on Manus, reported another man tried to take his life.

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"Unfortunately we've seen really serious increases in self-harm, suicides and other mental health deterioration which has meant there are more and more children transferred often by court order to Australia," UNHCR's Catherine Stubberfield told Hack.

"The UNHCR's been very clear. People need to be moved as soon as they can."

Daniel Webb, from the Human Rights Law Centre, also argued that there are actually children in offshore processing.

Right now there are over 120 children on Nauru who have been on an Island prison for half a decade," Daniel told Hack.

"There were 40 of these children who were born into detention."

Most of these children are currently held in community detention centres, which allow refugees to move about in the community without needing to be accompanied or restrained by an immigration officer.

Community detention is primarily used for unaccompanied minors, families and other vulnerable groups, such as those with significant physical or mental health issues.

The majority of the refugees on Manus and Nauru have been waiting four to five years to be resettled and have already had their claims processed, according to Catherine.

"A very strong majority of those people have been recognised as refugees, it's somewhere above 80% in PNG and Nauru," she said.

The United States signed a deal with our government to resettle 1,250 refugees in November 2016. So far only 372 people have been accepted by the US.

New Zealand have offered to take 150 refugees from Australia's offshore processing centres, but the Government has rejected it, fearing it would offer incentives to people smugglers to start the trade again.

Questions from Hack listeners for Peter Dutton regarding immigration and asylum seekers: What is being done to address the health care needs of asylum seekers on Manus island? Media in early 2018 told us that current services are not adequate to meet basic or specialist needs. This includes the need to transfer special cases. What is being done to fix this and what is the time line?

Surely with the amount of money we are paying the corporate companies to look after the detainees, we could settle them in Australia in country towns? At least the money would stay in Australia.

Is there any infrastructure for the children spending so long on these camps, like schools etc.? If not, why not?

Do you lock up people who seek asylum indefinitely?

How come you won't let the refugees go to NZ?

Very brave to come on to triple j Mr Dutton, not exactly your target audience but you've explained yourself well.

Mr Dutton claimed once refugees receive citizenship in New Zealand - a process that can take five years, if granted - those refugees would eventually end up in Australia anyway.

"They can come to Australia as a result. New Zealand is a comparable marketing opportunity for people smugglers because they've got comparable health, education, housing and welfare systems to Australia," he said.

"I don't think people smugglers have any intention of going to NZ, but they're marketing NZ and selling tickets on that basis."

The Minister said as one of the "most generous countries in the world", he wants to see more refugees resettled in Australia under humanitarian programs.

"Why take an economic refugee off a boat to displace someone we're bringing in under our humanitarian intake?" he said.

"Let's bring in those people most in need."

Mr Dutton said he'd like to see Manus and Nauru "closed tomorrow", if he could.

"If I could do it in a way that doesn't restart boats and doesn't see kids and women drowning at sea again, then yes, I'd have it done before 2022," he said.

I don't have any joy in seeing people there...despite what the memes say."

Mr Dutton reaffirmed the government's position on not allowing any refugees to be settled in Australia.

"It's very clear in advice to me that if we allow people to come from Nauru and Manus to Australia, the boats will restart," he said.

"Are you scared to go to dinner in Melbourne?"

In January, after a series of violent events in Melbourne involving young people of African background, Mr Dutton said there was an African gang problem.

He told Sydney radio station 2GB: "We need to call it what it is - of course it's African gang violence."

"People are scared to go out to restaurants at night time because they're scared of being followed home by these gangs."

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also raised concerns at the "growing gang violence".

"We are very concerned... at the lawlessness in Victoria, in particular in Melbourne," he said earlier this year.

Mr Dutton has recently weighed in on the debate again, following the death of 19-year-old African-Australian woman Laa Chol at a party in a Melbourne apartment last Saturday.

Investigators said they believed everyone at the apartment was of African heritage, reigniting debate around the issue of violence and crime.

Questions from Hack listeners for Peter Dutton regarding the "African gang problem" in Melbourne: Why does Dutton keep saying there's a "Sudanese gang problem", when experts in the field say he's exaggerating?

Melbourne doesn't have a Sudanese gang problem. Why is Dutton using racism to influence our state election?

Keep up the good work Mr Dutton! Keep protecting our country and its values!

What is a greater risk to citizens of Melbourne - African gangs or domestic violence?

My question for Mr Dutton is what does hope to achieve by using the tragic murder of Laa Chol in Melbourne to leverage cheap political gain?

Peter, have you been out for dinner in Melbourne recently?

Mr Dutton says we need to be honest about the situation.

"We need to be honest before we can fix it. We can't deny there's a problem," he told Hack.

"How are you going to fix it if you're blind to it?"

Green MP Adam Bandt hit out at the Minister, claiming there's not a problem with African gangs "in the way that Mr Dutton is talking about".

"What there is a problem with is Liberal politicians using fear and race to try and win votes because we know it ends in violence."

Sudanese-born people are overrepresented in crime statistics in Victoria. They make up 1.1 per cent of offenders in the state, despite being 0.1 per cent of the population.

Mr Dutton said he doesn't take issue with where offenders are from, but is concerned about Victorian citizens being harassed and assaulted.

"It doesn't matter where you've come from, my concern is there are Victorians who've had houses broken into, who've been followed home from restaurants," he said.

"We haven't got these problems, as they are in Victoria, in NSW and Queensland with other Sudanese communities."

"There's no sense in saying there are people of African descent involved in crimes who are walking around in groups, but we can't refer to them as African gangs."

Mr Dutton is sympathetic to the majority of law-abiding African-Australians, acknowledging that "99 per cent are good".

"But I want the 1.1 per cent doing the wrong thing and giving the community a bad name, I want the problem fixed."

He said the problem is Victorian-centric and up to the government to solve.

"The state government is conducting some kind of social experiment where they don't want to use a phrase or term. And I think it's counterproductive."

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has previously condemned Mr Dutton's comments as "dangerous".

"I think it is always dangerous to look at the actions of a small number of people and then make sweeping comments to try and draw conclusions across a whole group," Mr Andrews said earlier this year.

However, he did help implement an African-Australian community taskforce alongside Victoria Police, to help tackle youth crime.

Mr Dutton said he has spoken with the Victorian government to try and tackle the issue and restore faith in the community.

"We've made a great country through migration, all I'm saying is I want people to abide by the law," he said.

"If we want to bring the next 12,000 people in under migration intake, the broader public has to have faith in migration settings. At the moment, it's broken down."