Australia’s intake of Palestinians from Gaza could cost $300m if all visitor visa holders apply to stay permanently

Australia’s larger intake of people fleeing Gaza compared to allies like the US and UK has fuelled security concerns about the visa process, as the Coalition demands Labor justify spending millions of dollars if Palestinians apply to stay permanently.

Australia’s larger intake of people fleeing Gaza compared to allies like the US and UK has fuelled security concerns about the visa process, as the Coalition demands Labor justify spending millions of dollars if Palestinians apply to stay permanently.

In a bitter political dispute over the federal government’s decision to grant almost 3000 visitor visas to Palestinians fleeing the war zone, Anthony Albanese on Tuesday accused Peter Dutton of being “obsessed with trying to appear tough”.

The opposition leader has fired back implying the Prime Minister was “selling out” Australia’s national security to win multicultural seats at the next election.

As Labor refused to explain why 43 visitor visas granted to Palestinians since the October 7 attack were cancelled, of which 20 were then reinstated, the Coalition raised concerns about Australia’s considerably higher intake compared to the US, New Zealand, UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Japan or South Korea.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has accused the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of selling out Australia’s national security. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Only about 1300 visa recipients have reached Australia to date, but Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said those who did get here had “no intention of returning”.

“The government is now contemplating offering those people permanent places in Australia because they were granted tourist visas improperly,” he said.

The cost per place per year in Australia’s refugee and humanitarian program from next financial year is $25,520 annually based on Coalition analysis, which the opposition has argued means if all of the current visitor visa holders from Gaza applied to stay permanently would cost taxpayers up to $300 million over four years.

“In the middle of a cost of living crisis, Labor must explain why they are contemplating spending an extra $300 million on welfare and other assistance to Gaza residents who initially came here on tourist visas,” Mr Paterson said.

“This is not an orderly way to manage a migration program and it comes with real security risks and economic costs.”

Mr Dutton told his party room colleagues on Tuesday the call for a temporary pause on visa approvals was a “principled position” with the Gaza situation not comparable to refugee intakes from conflicts like Afghanistan or Syria.

“We have demonstrated time and time again that Australia is a big hearted and generous nation,“ he said.

The cost per place per year in Australia’s refugee program is $25,520. Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

“But we have an obligation to ensure that the appropriate security checks are being done, because at the moment, it is a murky process.

“If the Prime Minister is selling out our national security for seats in Western Sydney, that would be unforgivable.”

Mr Albanese told Question Time his government was “guided every single step of the way” by security agencies, highlighting under the Coalition 9,027 Ukrainians, 1991 people from Afghanistan, 4994 Iraqis and 1505 Syrians were granted visitor visas to flee wars in their countries.

The PM said anyone granted a visa from Gaza had “passed the same security standard” and agencies continued to monitor all overseas arrivals.

But the Coalition has criticised reports visas were being granted to people in Gaza on average within 24 hours, and questioned how checks like in-person interviews could be conducted when the borders were closed.

Originally published as Australia’s intake of Palestinians from Gaza could cost $300m if all visitor visa holders apply to stay permanently