March 17, 2024
The federal government has reversed its decision to cancel visas for several Palestinians en route to Australia, in a move which will grant permission for some of the refugees to enter the country.
Eight of the 11 Palestinians, who had their visas cancelled due to concerns over their future plans in Australia, have now got their visa reinstated after additional checks were conducted, an anonymous government source has confirmed.
Visas were cancelled in cases where individuals had left Gaza without explanation or where there had been a significant change in their circumstances, the source told the Sydney Morning Herald.
The initial decision left several people stranded in airports of the United Arab Emirates and Türkiye.
Executive director of the Palestine Australia Relief and Action group, Rasha Abbas said she is delighted for the outcome and is looking for a similar outcome for the other three individuals, who have not yet got their visas reinstated.
“We are relieved the government has reinstated some of the visas – not all of them but the majority have been reinstated,” Ms Abbas told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We are working through booking the flights for them and we will work with the government on the process for the remaining visa holders,” she said.
“Hopefully we will have the same outcome for all of them.”
Earlier this week the federal government acknowledged the cancellations would have been “incredibly distressing” for those affected, but maintained it was the right decision.
Opposition home affairs spokesperson James Paterson has said the Coalition has concerns over the speed at which some visa applications were approved for Palestinians, citing an ABC report that stated one had been approved in an hour.
“It is just not possible to do adequate identity let alone security checks on people coming from a war zone run by a terrorist organisation in that short amount of time,” Mr Paterson told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning.
“They were granting visas to people that their own security advice now says they shouldn’t, and no wonder, because they were rushing them through so quickly,” he said.
