Two Rwandan refugees who confessed to the murder of tourists in 1999 were resettled in Australia as part of a controversial refugee swap deal struck between the US and Australia, according to US media reports.
Conservative Party policy is that all migrants to Australia should be admitted only if it is in our economic, social and cultural interests.
The Australian reports, in what amounts to a political landmine two days out form the election, which has in part been fought on the issue of border security, US news website Politico is carrying a report that the two men, which it has named, were accepted as part of the deal.
According to Politico, the men were extradited to the US to stand trial and confessed to the crimes, which saw eight tourists slaughtered by Hutu rebels in 1999.
Despite the confessions, the men walked free after a US court ruled they had been tortured while in custody in Rwanda, tainting their admissions.
The Department of Home Affairs has so far refused to comment, however, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is speaking at the Press Club in Canberra today and is sure to be asked about it.
Malcolm Turnbull, who negotiated the execution of the deal with US President Donald Trump in a testy phone call, the transcript of which was famously leaked, indicated Australia was prepared to take unsavoury people in order to empty the refugee facilities on Nauru and Manus Island.
“Basically, we are taking people from the previous administration that they were very keen on getting out of the United States,” Mr Turnbull told Mr Trump in 2017. “We will take more. We will take anyone that you want us to take.”
