Scott Morrison has declined to criticise Donald Trump’s contentious travel ban, saying it is up to the United States to determine its border control arrangements, and noting the rest of the world is now “catching up” with Australia’s harsh deterrence policies.



Morrison, a former immigration minister, suggested to Sydney radio host Ray Hadley he empathised with the US president Donald Trump, who is facing a fierce backlash against his controversial executive order banning travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries.

“I remember when we came in in 2013 and I was implementing our border protection policy people threw their hands up – and I said I’m doing what I said I would do in the way I said I’d do it – and guess what, I’m now getting the results I said I’d get,” Morrison told Hadley during their weekly Monday morning chat.

“And we did that as a government, and we’ve continued that as a government, and we are the envy of the world when it comes to strong border protection policies.

“The rest of the world would love to have our borders and the way they are secured and the immigration arrangements we have put in place, particularly most recently, over the last three or four years.

“We’ve got a good history around this. Really, the rest of the world is catching up to Australia.”

Morrison refused to condemn Trump’s policy, which has sparked protests, a legal challenge and criticism in the US and internationally.

Australia’s treasurer said Trump was doing what he said he would do during the presidential race. “Now how the US wants to handle [border protection] is a matter for them. As you say, they’ve had an election, and the president is implementing what he said he would do.”

US travel ban - a brief guide The executive order signed by Donald Trump suspends the entire US refugee admissions system, already one of the most rigorous in the world, for 120 days. It also suspends the Syrian refugee program indefinitely, and bans entry to the US to people from seven majority-Muslim countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – for 90 days. The order has prompted a series of legal challenges, while thousands of Americans have protested outside airports and courthouses in solidarity with Muslims and migrants.

The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has reportedly indicated Australia will support Donald Trump’s “strong immigration and border protection policies”.

“The Australian government is working very closely with the administration and the US officials and we want to ensure that Australians continue to have access to the United States, as they have in the past, and people from the United States have access to Australia,” Bishop is reported to have said in Los Angeles.

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has not yet addressed the subject of the US travel ban.

In a call with the president at the weekend, Turnbull secured Trump’s agreement to honour the deal to resettle refugees held on Manus Island and Nauru, which was negotiated under the Obama administration.

With the new political year opening with another round of strategic sniping by the former prime minister Tony Abbott, Morrison pointedly welcomed this development as “an extraordinary achievement by Malcolm Turnbull”.

“[The prime minister] is very pleased we’ve been able to secure this arrangement. They are both business people aren’t they, and a deal’s a deal,” the treasurer said. “We are just getting on with it and Malcolm is leading it.”

Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, was asked on Monday whether the Trump travel ban was racist and said it was very important for countries to maintain non-discriminatory immigration policies.



“I think that it’s very important that policies, immigration policies, all government policies, are not based on race or religion or ethnic background or country of origin,” Plibersek told reporters.

“Australia has had a non-discriminatory immigration policy for 40 years and that’s served us very well. We are stronger as a nation when we are united. When we fight discrimination.

“Of course, any country has the right to do background checks, to be careful and cautious about who it invites to become a permanent resident or a citizen.

“But flat-out discrimination based on religion or ethnicity or country of origin has never served us well.”

The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has welcomed Trump’s move, but questioned what Turnbull had to give to secure the new administration’s backing for the refugee resettlement agreement.

“It seems like Australia might be getting a good deal on the resettlement of those housed on Manus and Nauru,” Hanson said on her Facebook page. “But I would like to know what Australia had to promise in return because this deal won’t come without a cost.

“The question you should be asking yourself is pretty obvious: what are the real details of the deal?”