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An embattled Abbott government has risked damage to long-running political bipartisanship on national security by accusing the former Labor government of having allowed terrorists to enter the country.
In a fiery question time at the end of what was unquestionably its worst week since being elected, the government used a pre-arranged "Dorothy Dix" question from its own side to draw attention to the fact that two alleged terrorists arrested this week in Sydney had entered Australia during the term of the most recent Labor government.
"I remind the minister of the recent arrest of two men on terrorism charges in Sydney this week," said a government MP in a question to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
"Minister, when did the men arrive in Australia and what pressures were our security agencies under at the time they arrived?"
The question brought derision and interjections with Labor's immigration spokesman Richard Marles ejected after taking a point of order "on the grounds of low-rent grubbiness".
"The advice that I have received in relation to these two particular individuals is that one arrived in Australia in 2009, and that one arrived in Australia in 2012," Mr Dutton said, to opposition cries of "grub!"
"On the advice provided to me, Madam Speaker, one of those arrived on an improperly documented air travel and fraudulent documents and that matter is being investigated as a matter of urgency. But it is important for all of us to understand the pressure that our security agencies were under at the time."
Mr Dutton went on to conflate the issues of boat arrivals and terrorism, arguing border protection offices were overwhelmed at the time and had thus allowed persons in who otherwise might have been rejected on national security grounds.
"Under this government we have seen one boat arrive, yet in 2013 under Labor, there were 302 boats - 302 boats."
As order broke down, Labor succumbed to the same approach.
"Can the Prime Minister explain how the terrorist Sharrouf was allowed to leave Australia despite being on an airport watch list," asked the oppositions manager of business, Tony Burke.
"Madam Speaker, this terrorist was able to leave Australia because regrettably we weren't able to change instantly all the bad systems that Labor had in place," said Tony Abbott, branding Labor's attack "the usual kind of cheap sneering we expect from members opposite".
Earlier, Mr Marles told Sky News Mr Dutton should be very careful because "this is a very dangerous path for him to walk down".
"There was no warnings in respect of these individuals at the time they came to Australia, that has been made clear by the authorities and if you want to open this door the government needs to have a very good look at what happened with Khaleed Sharrouf who was on a 'no fly' list, so he was on a warning list – a 'no fly' list and under the former minister was allowed to leave this country and go to Syria and Iraq.
"Man Monis, if you want to walk down this path, entered Australia under the Howard government.
"This is grubby desperation of the worst kind and trying to politicise what is a deeply serious issue for the Australian people is a disgrace."
The exchange came as the Abbott government showed the signs of a stressful few weeks after the Prime Minister narrowly survived a leadership spill on Monday.
