‘How can this individual be here?’ Coalition grills Labor over Palestinian visa holder with family terror links

Labor has been grilled over how a man was granted a visa to Australia despite previously hosting a meeting of terror group political leaders and having multiple family members connected to the same organisations.

Labor has been grilled over how a Palestinian man was granted a visa to Australia despite having previously hosted political leaders of listed terror organisations and having multiple family members connected to the same groups.

Anthony Albanese was repeatedly asked in Question Time on goodWednesday about the circumstances around the arrival of artist Fayez Elhasani to Australia, with the Opposition arguing his alleged links to groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – both listed terror organisations – should have been security red flags for the visa character test.

It was revealed by News Corp Mr Elhasani, who arrived in Sydney after losing ten of his family members in an Israeli missile strike following the October 7 Hamas terror attack, had three deceased brothers and two sons who had been active members of the PIJ or other banned groups.

While living in Gaza, Mr Elhasani was the director-general of the Rawasi Palestine Institute – which promoted local art, culture and communication – but also during his tenure shared many images and videos supportive of violent attacks on Israel.

The Prime Minister deferred each question from Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who did not specifically refer to Mr Elhasani’s case, but said the visa process for people coming from Palestine has been “exactly the same for everyone”.

Fayez Elhasani (third from left) hosted a 2019 meeting of Palestinian factions at the Rawasi Institute in Gaza. Picture: Facebook

“The engagement with the security agencies has been the same the whole way through,” he said.

Mr Tehan asked if Mr Albanese could guarantee his government had not granted a visa to “any individual from the terrorist controlled Gaza … who has links to a terrorist organisation”.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke would not comment on the individual case. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Burke answered by quoting ASIO director-general Mike Burgess, who previously said: “if you think terrorism is okay, if you think the destruction of the state of Israel is okay, if you think Hamas and what they did on 7 October is okay, I can tell you that is not okay and from a security assessment point of view you will not pass muster”.

Rawasi Palestine account shared video of rockets being fired with a celebrating the efforts to ‘repel’ Israel. Picture: Supplied/

But the Coalition has questioned how Mr Elhasani could have passed this test given social media posts showing in 2019 he hosted a meeting and press conference of Palestinian factions, including political members of Hamas, the PIJ and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – all groups listed as terror organisations either by Australia or its allies like the US and EU.

“How can this individual be here, given the advice?” Mr Tehan said.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan has questioned how Fayez Elhasani was allowed in to Australia. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

‘SAME TEST’

Mr Burke also went on the attack, accusing the Opposition of not trusting Australia’s security agencies, and arguing the very same test had applied to the thousands people granted visas to come from terror-controlled parts of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq under the previous Coalition government.

Mr Burke said the safety “guarantee” his government received from security agencies about all of the Palestinian visa recipients, was the “same” as what was given to Opposition leader Peter Dutton when he was previously Home Affairs Minister and allowed people to come to Australia despite their countries being under the influence of terror groups like ISIS and the Taliban.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson says he does not understand how Fayez Elhasani passed the visa character test. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the government was responsible to enforcing the character provisions in the Migration Act, which set out broader expectations for anyone wanting to come to Australia than only whether they posed any immediate security threat.

“How is someone who hosted a press conference with Hamas, who said that the resistance to Israel must use all means necessary, is someone of good character allowed to come to our country?” Mr Paterson said.

“I can’t understand how that would ever be approved.”

Originally published as ‘How can this individual be here?’ Coalition grills Labor over Palestinian visa holder with family terror links