The Immigration Minister should be a man under pressure, even as the nation's attention is diverted by the eight-week election campaign.

He has a host of awkward questions to answer about shocking events on Nauru; the decision of PNG's top court that those detained on Manus Island must be released; the latest boat arrival; and the duty of care owed to a vulnerable rape victim who is seeking to have an abortion.

But the po-faced Dutton is unabashed and on the offensive, asserting Labor's border protection policies are the ones that are in tatters and it is Bill Shorten who faces a test of leadership.