August 12, 2024
The Coalition has demanded the Albanese government raise the threshold for the granting of visas for Palestinian refugees from Gaza in a bid to prevent Hamas sympathisers entering Australia, following remarks from the country's top spy chief.
Over the weekend, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) boss Mike Burgess said Palestinians who expressed "rhetorical support" for the terror organisation would not be immediately blocked because they "want their homeland".
“If it’s just rhetorical support, and they don’t have an ideology or support for a violent extremism ideology, then that’s not a problem," he told ABC's Insiders.
“If they have a support for that ideology, then that will be a problem.”
The comments have raised eyebrows, with shadow home affairs minister James Paterson describing the situation as "deeply disturbing" there is "no guarantee" from the government that Hamas supporters were not being brought into Australia.
Mr Paterson stressed zero supporters of the terror organisation should be brought in, but stopped short of criticising the ASIO boss who the Senator believed "very accurately described the current situation under the Albanese government".
"Now it's not a matter for a director general of an intelligence agency to set policy. It's up to the government to set policy," the Liberal Senator said on Sky News Australia.
He then urged the Albanese government to be transparent and reveal how it would ensure Hamas supporters would not be granted a visa to live in Australian communities.
It is understood about 1,300 Palestinians have been so far granted temporary visas to stay, with the government set to announce a path for permanent residency.
Some of the refugees are unable to work due to the conditions on their visa.
Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007 and were responsible for the October 7 attacks in Israel, which left almost 1,200 people dead and hundreds of others kidnapped.
Mr Paterson also flagged there appeared to be an "unseemly" rush by the government to get people out of Gaza, raising concerns appropriate testing was not being conducted.
"When we brought other cohorts like this out of the Middle East for example... they were taken to third countries for very careful vetting and screening before they came to Australia so we could be assured they didn't pose a risk to the community," he said.
"I don't see any evidence that same care has been applied in this case and it's up to the Albanese government to explain why there was such a rush and those checks didn't happen as they should have."
Mr Paterson said biometric testing was an important part of the security assessment and flagged the provision in the Migration Act should also form part of the testing.
Biometric testing involves scanning ten fingerprints with a digital scanner and taking a photo of the applicant's face, used for identifying and security purposes.
"Let's remember, millions of people would love to come to this country... would like to live here. Of all the people in the world we can choose to come and enrich our country and make it a better and stronger place, why on Earth would we pick supporters of a listed terrorist organisation at the head of that queue?"
Mr Burgess in his ABC interview said cases had been referred to his organisation for security reasons and those granted visas had been through the appropriate tests.
Germany's interior minister almost one year ago flagged Hamas supporters should be deported from the country, if possible, amid the rise of anti-Semitism.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revealed last week the federal government was looking at options to allow Palestinians to extend their stay in Australia.
Visitor visas were granted following the war, but are due to expire.
Mr Burke confirmed to Sky News Australia it was assessing the next steps for Palestinians, but could not comment further as no decisions had been made.
"Certainly no country in the world would send people back to Gaza at the moment, no country in the world would do that; so we have to work through what happens as the visas that people are currently on expire," he said.
Asked if the government was considering Safe Haven visas, which allow someone to stay in the country for five years, Mr Burke was tight-lipped.
