Defence Minister Richard Marles says no threats to local community over Palestinian visitor visas

Defence Minister Richard Marles has been grilled over why nearly 3000 Palestinians were allowed to enter Australia on visitor visas, instead of specific humanitarian visas.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says he believes adequate security checks were done on the 2568 Palestinians fleeing Gaza who were granted visitor visas and there is no threats to the local community.

The government is being attacked for choosing the short-term visas over a specific humanitarian visa for Palestinians fleeing the regions following retaliation from the Israeli government after the October 7 Hamas attacks.

The Opposition has questioned whether the process was rushed, and whether this meant applications were processed without biometric, character and identity checks.

Appearing on Sky News Sunday Agenda, Mr Marles said he was “satisfied” the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was conducting all the necessary security checks and would not pose a security risk to communities.

However he avoided answering questions as to why the government choose to award the visitor visas over a humanitarian visa.

“It’s a security assessment which is continuous (and applies to) everyone who is in the country right now under a visa, via this cohort from the occupied Palestinian territories, or indeed from any other part of the world,” he said.

“There is a continuous assessment of people who are in this country under visas, and that is done by ASIO.

“I’m satisfied that all the security checks are in place in respect of this cohort as have applied to any cohort who have come to this country.”

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

No Palestinians have been granted visas to Austrlai since the closure of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt since May,

Mr Marles wouldn’t directly answer whether the government would create a humanitarian visa pathway for future cases, instead, reiterating that ASIO would be tasked with managing the security checks.

“The government will keep ensuring that ASIO is front and centre in the security assessments that occur in relation to any person, no matter where in the world may come from, who is coming to this country.

Mr Marles blasted the Opposition for creating a “total distraction” away from cost-of-living issues during question time over the last sitting fortnight.

“The border in relation to the occupied Palestinian territories is closed, and it has been closed for months, as the opposition know, and the fact that this is a political distraction is best evidenced by that, because if this was really an issue of concern to them, they would have been raising it months ago, but they didn’t,” he said.

Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley said there were still questions which the government had failed to answer.

“Why can’t they simply tell the Australian people what they are doing with these visas, where these security assessments have been made and whether they were properly made by ASIO,” she told Sky.

“With respect to tourist visas, nearly 3000 visas have been issued to come to Australia from this part of the war zone and the US has issued, I think about 17. So there really are questions to answer.”

Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley said while the former Coalition government also issued visitor visas for people fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, more security checks were performed. Picture: NewsWire/ Monique Harmer

She said under the Coalition government, visitor visas issued to Afghanistanis fleeing the Taliban still underwent lengthy biometric testing and personal interviews in third-party countries.

“I remember supporting families that were close to constituents in my electorate who desperately wanted to get their family members out of Afghanistan, who called me sometimes daily, and I would do whatever I could, as did our government,” said Ms Ley.

“I know this took time … We had to get it right, because these character checks and identity checks are vital. So some of these visas took 12 months.

“Some of them are still being processed from Afghanistan, as I understand, that’s how you do it. That’s how you do it properly and sensibly.”

Between October 7 and August 12, a total of 2922 visas were given to people with Palestinian Authority travel documents, with 2568 of those visitor visas. An added 7111 applications were refused, with 7111 of those visitor visas.

The department of Home Affairs have also cancelled 43 visitor visas between October 7 and July 31, however 20 were revoked following further assessment.