August 21, 2024
SHARRI MARKSON: Well the Prime Minister has finally today admitted that a number of the 3,000 visitor visas granted to Palestinians in the wake of the October 7th attacks have been cancelled, but he continues to defend his process. I spoke with Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Patterson about this a little earlier. James Paterson, thank you so much for your time.
JAMES PATERSON: Great to be with you.
MARKSON: Now, police in New South Wales have expressed concern about the inadequacy of the visa process and the security vetting. They're concerned that it could be risking community safety. Law enforcement in New South Wales also say they're frustrated because they haven't even been consulted by the Albanese government. What do you make of these concerns from senior police?
PATERSON: Sharri, this is a hugely significant story. It's effectively a vote of no confidence by New South Wales Police in the Albanese government's handling of immigration, national security and community safety. And no wonder, because it's police who are on the frontline who have to deal with the consequences of a rushed and inadequate vetting process that the Albanese government has put in place since the 7th of October in handing out almost 3,000 tourist visas to people leaving Gaza in an average time of just 24 hours, in some instances as quickly as one hour, far faster and in far greater numbers than any of our like minded allies around the world. So I am not surprised that police are alarmed, but it is very concerning.
MARKSON: Home Affairs has admitted to me that almost all of the applicants did apply through an online electronic process. How thorough do you think these checks can be when they're being approved in as little as one hour?
PATERSON: It's not possible to do an identity verification, let alone a security check, on someone leaving a war zone controlled by a terrorist organisation in as quickly as an hour or even 24 hours. And it is very illustrative that every single one of our Five Eyes partners, that all of our democratic allies and friends around the world, have adopted a very different approach. Even Canada, which says they ultimately hope to resettle up to 5,000 people, has only taken in a fraction of that, a 10th of what Australia has in the six months since the 7th of October, because they are taking the time to get it right, and they are granting them refugee and humanitarian visas, which have high levels of security screening, not tourist visas. The Albanese government has taken a globally unique approach to this issue. It's a very brave thing to do and I fear there will be consequences for our national security.
MARKSON: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Look, the Prime Minister keeps saying in Parliament every day that he trusts the intelligence agencies. He has faith in them to get the process right. But, James, hasn't it become clear that actually ASIO isn't vetting every single visa?
PATERSON: I trust our intelligence agencies too. The person I don't trust is our Prime Minister and his performance in question time last week and this week on these issues has only deepened my mistrust in him because he's failed to be up front. He's failed to be honest. He's failed to answer basic, factual questions. And he's deliberately obfuscating when it comes to questions like how many cases are being referred to ASIO or not. Mike Burgess has already answered this question. It is settled. We know not every case is being referred to ASIO, and the Prime Minister won't acknowledge that. But he's very careful with his language to make sure that he's not accused of misleading the House this week, as he was caught out doing last week.
MARKSON: There's this extraordinary situation where apparently it's okay to have people come to Australia and live here, become citizens who have rhetorical support for a terrorist organisation. Do you think this is problematic and just at its very fundamental level, how would this change the fabric of Australian society?
PATERSON: It's hugely problematic, Sharri. Frankly, I think we have enough problems in our country already when it comes to record levels of anti-Semitism, when it comes to extraordinary strains on social cohesion. Before we go adding to those problems by bringing in people who will exacerbate them because of the views and values that they have. I mean, if we were really troubled as a country by the scenes that we saw at the Sydney Opera House on the 9th of October, or the rally in western Sydney on the 8th of October that celebrated the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, then we wouldn't be bringing in people who also shared those views, and in fact might have even more extreme views and stronger support for Hamas. That seems like an entirely counterproductive thing to do if you're genuinely concerned about social cohesion, as the Prime Minister claims to be. What we should be doing is having a high standard for who we bring to this country. We're a very attractive country. There are millions of people around the world who'd like to come, and we're entitled to say that we want the best of the world coming to Australia. Not people who support listed terrorist organisations and their atrocities.
MARKSON: What do you think it says about the visa process, that 23 Australian visas were issued to Palestinians that were then cancelled, while the people were en route to Australia, they were already on their journey here.
PATERSON: Well, this blows apart the Prime Minister and Tony Burke's defence of the government, that all adequate security checks took place before visas were granted. By definition, if you grant a visa and then subsequently cancel it, not all adequate checks were done in the first place. And it sounds like from media reporting that in some instances it was just a matter of hours or even minutes that these visas were cancelled before people got on planes. Now, why that's important is, had they been able to get on those planes, had they come into our country, they are very difficult to deal with once they're here, because they have access to our legal system and can tie it up in knots for years. So if that did pose a risk, we would be stuck with them until the legal system resolved their status. That is the risk that this government has exposed us to by not doing this properly, as we did with the Syrian and Afghan intakes, of taking people to third countries, having face to face interviews, conducting biometric screening. They are the kind of things that you need to do if you want to make sure you're not bringing in a risk to our country.
MARKSON: Look, these Palestinians coming from Gaza have been brought in on visitor visas. So this is intended for people who might be visiting family members in Australia. It doesn't include Medicare or other taxpayer funded support. So they come here and visit on visas. But are then quickly, we know about 400 of them, quickly have been transferred to bridging visas so they can access taxpayer funded support. Are you concerned that this initial use of visitor visas is, in fact, fraudulent?
PATERSON: It was totally improper for the government to grant tourist visas for people who the Minister for Home Affairs has publicly admitted have no prospect of returning to Gaza any time soon. They should have been assessed for refugee visas, and if they met the threshold and passed the test, then they could be welcome in Australia. But if they don't, then they shouldn't. And that hasn't happened here. And the problem is it's ultimately Australians who will pay the price of this. We've calculated that if all 3,000 are converted to permanent visas or refugee visas in this country after having first been granted tourist visas, that over four years, that'll cost the Australian taxpayer $300 million. Now frankly, I think in the middle of a cost of living crisis, the appetite of the Australian public to pay that level of support to people who came here improperly on tourist visas is going to be very low.
MARKSON: All right. This is a very serious issue. You've been at the forefront of raising these questions. James Paterson, thank you very much for your time.
ENDS
