August 26, 2024
Cabinet minister Bill Shorten has conceded some Palestinians fleeing the war in Gaza may be Hamas supporters but insists the government is weeding out those who present a security risk.
As the government continued to sidestep questions over its decision to issue Gazans with visitor visas, the Minister for Government Services suggested Palestinians in the war-torn territory might feel obliged to back the terrorist group to protect families.
"If you lived in Gaza ... when you might depend on (Hamas for) your food, and the government does a survey and says, 'Do you support Hamas?' I don't know what you'd say, but you'd probably weigh up the interests of your family," he told the ABC's Insiders program.
Mr Shorten said the question of whether someone supported Hamas was overridden by whether they were a security risk, and pointed to the more than 70 per cent rejection rate for Palestinian visa applicants since the start of the war in Gaza.
He accused the Coalition of waging a "cunning" political attack on the issue, drowning out government attempts to connect with voters on its cost-of-living policies.
His comments came as Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles refused to say why the government had opted to use visitor visas for those fleeing the war rather than creating a special humanitarian visa class.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Marles sidestepped four direct questions on the government's choice of visas for Gazans, arguing the issue was "a total distraction".
He said ASIO was part of the process, and the opposition knew it. "You can get into the weeds of the specific visa classes, but what matters from a security point of view (is) 'Was ASIO in play or not?' Of course they were," Mr Marles said.
"I'm satisfied that all the security checks are in place in respect of this cohort, as have (been) applied to any cohort who have come to this country."
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the government needed to explain why it had not adopted the approach of past Australian government's in creating a special visa for those trying to escape conflicts.
"It is embarrassing that the Deputy Prime Minister had to be asked four times why the Albanese government gave 3000 tourist visas to people from Gaza, and he still couldn't answer the question," Senator Paterson said.
"Tony Burke must come clean about why they chose this rushed and risky process that abandoned the rigorous process under previous governments for Syria and Afghanistan evacuees."
Former deputy immigration secretary Abul Rizvi told The Australian last week that the government's use of visitor tourist visas for Palestinians fleeing the war was politically driven and almost certainly done against departmental advice.
"Home Affairs would have given them the advice that the humanitarian option is probably the better one," Mr Rizvi said.
He said the decision had condemned Palestinians granted visitor visas since the start of the war to "grind their way" through the onshore asylum process, imposing higher costs on taxpayers while displacing other applicants from the nation's capped refugee program.
Anthony Albanese refused last week to say whether supporting Hamas would disqualify a visa applicant under Australia's immigration character test, while ASIO boss Mike Burgess declared a fortnight ago that rhetorical support for the terrorist group was "not a problem" for those seeking to come to Australia.
Peter Dutton told parliament last week that if those with Hamas sympathies were considered eligible for visas, it was a "radical departure from the policies of any previous Labor or Liberal governments". Nearly 3000 Palestinians have been granted visitor visas since the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, while more than 7000 had their applications refused. The government is working to devise a longterm plan for those who have entered Australia on temporary visas.
