Labor, Coalition clash over security checks for 2000 Palestinian visas

The federal government has accused the Coalition of trying to whip up fear by suggesting that terrorists or terrorist sympathisers from Palestine may be receiving fast-tracked visas to enter Australia.

As the opposition attacks the government over border protection after around 40 asylum seekers arrived by boat in Western Australia, it has also argued that the government is not applying sufficiently tough security checks for visa applicants from the occupied Palestinian territories.

Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Department of Home Affairs officials said during Senate estimates hearings that they had approved more than 2000 visas to Palestinian residents since the beginning of Israel’s war with Hamas.

Officials said the median processing time for visitor visas, across all countries, was a day.

“In the middle of an unprecedented antisemitism crisis, the government should be taking much greater care in granting visas to people from a war zone run by a terrorist organisation,” opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said.

“How can they possibly assure themselves there is not one Hamas supporter among them? And how will it help social cohesion if they manage to slip through?”

Hamas, a listed terror organisation in Australia, has been the governing authority in Gaza since 2007 and led a series of shock attacks on October 7 that killed 1200 people in Israel. In the retaliatory war in the Gaza Strip since then, at least 29,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Only 334 people from the Palestinian territories have actually arrived in Australia after being granted a visitor visa since October, reflecting the difficulty of escaping Gaza. Most of the Palestinians granted visas since October have been from residents in Gaza, sources said.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said: “We back our professional public servants and intelligence agencies who assess risk every day.

“Senator Patterson is once again showing there’s nothing the opposition won’t play for political gain.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the opposition was weaponising fear for political gain.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

When Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was serving as home affairs minister, the government granted more than 500 visas a week to Syrians fleeing the war-torn country.

More than 12,500 permanent visas were granted in total, while the visas granted to Palestinians and Israelis following the October 7 attacks have been largely temporary visitor visas.

The previous government also approved 5000 temporary visas for Afghans when the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan and Western troops departed the country in August 2021.

The Home Affairs Department refused 460 visitor visas for Palestinian residents between October and February while approving 2273 visas for Palestinian residents over the same period.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said: “The Liberals and the Nationals want to whip up anger and fear in the Australian community because they think there’s votes in it for them. Divisive Dutton thinks dirty politics will make him prime minister, but he’s more [Pauline] Hanson than [John] Howard.”

Dutton warned in November that there could be a “catastrophic outcome in our country” if visa applicants were allowed to enter the country without appropriate security checks.

“Taking people out of a war zone without conducting the checks, particularly those that are available to us in the US is reckless,” he said.

“The prime minister here needs to hit the pause button. I’m not saying people shouldn’t come at some point, but people should come when all the checks are conducted.”

The government insists it has a rigorous security process for visa applicants which includes biometric checking and identity checks using classified data sources with foreign governments.

Palestinians tend to have more identity documents to hand than other groups seeking to escape a conflict zone because life requires regular passage through Israeli checkpoints, sources said.

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