August 20, 2024
The Coalition says 1300 Palestinians who have fled to Australia from the war in Gaza should return home when the conflict is over and not be granted permanent residency in Australia.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said a special visa pathway being considered by the government should not involve permanent settlement for Palestinians who had arrived on visitor visas since October 7.
“We don’t think permanent visas is the right approach. We think Temporary Protection Visas under the former government was the right approach,” Paterson said on Monday.
“That allows people to be safe and stay here while they can, but to return home when it’s safe to do so.
“I think there’s a very grave concern that people who have now come to Australia can stay here permanently when they never should have been entering under those circumstances.”
His comments guarantee the Coalition will keep fighting Labor on this issue, making it politically difficult for the federal government to resolve it for the people already in the country.
The Coalition has mounted a political attack on Labor over what it says have been insufficient security processes for 2922 Palestinians who have been granted visas to Australia, although only 1300 have been able to leave Gaza.
Most Palestinians were issued temporary visitor visas, which are typically used for holidaymakers and do not give them work or social security rights.
Others escaping recent conflicts have been offered pathways to remain in Australia. Ukrainians were offered special three-year humanitarian visas, with the option of applying for permanent residency, while people fleeing Afghanistan and Syria were offered permanent resettlement pathways.
The Coalition’s former Temporary Protection Visas did not allow people to apply for permanent visas, and the Albanese government abolished them.
Advocates for new arrivals from Gaza fear the divisive political debate that has consumed parliament for the past fortnight could derail Labor’s plans to announce a new visa pathway. They say those fleeing Gaza have struggled to put food on the table without work rights or health benefits.
Paterson said the whole process had been mishandled.
“That’s exactly why they shouldn’t have been granted a tourist visa in the first place. When you apply for a tourist visa, one of the conditions is [that] you intend to return to where you have come from,” he said.
Asked for the Coalition’s position on what should happen to those already in Australia, given its argument that the current processes had created a security threat, Paterson outlined the circumstances under which he thought people should stay on a short-term basis.
“We think people should be assessed for Temporary Protection Visas if they’re already here in Australia. That would allow them to stay for so long as it is unsafe for them to return if they meet the criteria and pass all the security checks for a Temporary Protection Visa,” he said.
“If, on the other hand, there’s evidence that some among this cohort are supporters of Hamas or other terrorist organisations, then the visas should be cancelled on character grounds, and they should be removed from Australia.”
Asked whether there should be any path to permanency for the people who are in Australia now, Paterson said: “No, I think the great virtue of Temporary Protection Visas is it offers people a safe haven when it is unsafe to return to their home.
“But when the circumstances change, they are able to return. This is a policy approach which has worked very successfully, for example, with Sri Lankan migrants to Australia in the past,” he said.
He said he believed it would be possible for Palestinians to return to Gaza.
“I think Gaza will have to be rebuilt. There will be a ceasefire, the conflict will end, and the objective must be for it to be a place that people can live again,” he said.
“I mean, there are millions of people now living in Gaza. For their sake, as well as the ones who might wish to return, we should make sure Gaza is a place that can be peaceful and safe and habitable again.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pointed out during question time that the Coalition had brought people from Ukraine on visitor visas during the initial stages of that conflict and had issued 1000 visitor visas to Palestinians from the occupied territories during its time in office. However, the government could not specify whether any of those people were from Gaza.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. It was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, in which militants killed about 1200 people and abducted 250 others.
