August 6, 2024
The Albanese government has come under fire for its approach to Palestinian visas as it considers a new “special visa pathway” for refugees fleeing Gaza to allow them to stay in Australia.
It comes after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation on Monday raised the terrorism threat level in Australia from "possible" to "probable," with the intelligence agency concerned about the rising threat of politically motivated violence.
It marks the first time the threat level has been raised to this level since 2014.
Shadow home affairs and cyber security minister James Paterson blasted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his failure to “uphold social cohesion” and condemn antisemitism ever since Hamas’ October 7 attacks.
He further argued adequate processes weren’t being implemented when bringing Palestinian refugees into the country.
“He’s failed to adequately condemn the instances of antisemitism that we’ve seen our community, he’s failed to ensure that the law is enforced to stop people doing it,” Mr Paterson told Sky News host Sharri Markson.
"And he’s playing with fire with issues like this when he brings people into our country from an area which is a warzone which is controlled by a terrorist organisation without adequate vetting or checks.
“We don’t understand how it is possible in 24 hours on average, but in some instances in just on hour, to do an identity check on someone and to now contemplate extending their stay in Australia on a more permanent basis, is in total contravention to the original visas that were granted which are temporary visitor visas.
“And so really it is up to the new Immigration Minister Tony Burke to demonstrate why this will not, in any way, threaten Australia’s safety, security or social cohesion.”
Senator Paterson also accused Mr Burke of using his new portfolio to respond to local political pressures.
Mr Burke's electorate of Watson is home to a large Muslim population with the minister at risk of a possible challenge at the next election from a community independent over the government's response to the war in Gaza.
“Based on Tony Burke’s performance last time he was Immigration Minster in the Rudd-Gillard era, it’s hard to have any confidence in the way in which he conduct himself in this portfolio, even if he didn’t have very severe local political pressures which he’s clearly responding to,” Senator Paterson said.
He argued the Labor Party “lives in fear” of a problem similar to what its UK Labour counterpart faced as the country went to the polls in July.
“Which despite a landslide election victory for Keir Starmer, saw four of their seats fall, including two frontbenchers, to pro-Gaza independents backed by independent Muslim community groups,” Mr Paterson said.
“There are groups like that organising in Australia. The government is under huge pressure on that front. I think it explains a lot of their weakness in confronting antisemitism since the election, and I worry that that is one of the main reasons why Tony Burke was appointed to this portfolio.
“It's certainly not because he's got a great record in it. Given that in just 80 days as minister, he allowed 83 boats to arrive, 6634 people and a record of 1992 children in detention. That's nothing to be proud of.”
Mr Burke on Monday maintained no decision on the special visa pathway has been finalised.
In a poll conducted by Reuters last month, two-thirds of Palestinians backed the Hamas terror attack against Israelis on October 7, which led to more than 1110 deaths and hundreds of hostages taken into Gaza.
"The poll found that two-thirds thought the Oct. 7 attack was a correct decision - a 4 percentage point drop from the previous poll," Reuters reported.
"The decrease came from Gaza, where 57 per cent of respondents said the decision was correct, down from 71 per cent in March.
"It showed that about 80 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza had lost a relative or had a relative that had been injured in the war."
