Send Gazans in Australia home after the war: Paterson

The Coalition says 1300 Palestinians who have fled to Australia from the war in Gaza should return home when the conflict is over and not be granted permanent residency, deepening a partisan divide over the country’s humanitarian response to people fleeing the Middle East.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson on Tuesday said a special Palestinian visa pathway being considered by the government should not involve permanent settlement for Palestinians who had arrived on visitor visas since October 7.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson says if people fail screenings on character grounds, they should be removed from Australia. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“We don’t think permanent visas is the right approach. We think Temporary Protection Visas under the former government was the right approach. That allows people to be safe and stay here while they can, but to return home when it’s safe to do so,” Paterson said.

“I think there’s a very grave concern that people who have now come to Australia can stay here permanently when they never should have been entering under those circumstances.”

Paterson’s comments guarantee the Coalition will keep fighting Labor over visas, making it politically difficult for the federal government to resolve the issue as it prepares a scheme for Palestinians already in the country.

In comments to the joint Coalition party room on Tuesday, opposition leader Peter Dutton told his MPs he had taken a principled position. “If the prime minister is selling out our national security for seats in Western Sydney, that would be unforgivable,” he said.

The Coalition has mounted a political attack on Labor over what it says have been insufficient security processes for 2922 Palestinians who have been granted visas to Australia, although only 1300 have been able to leave Gaza.

Most Palestinians were issued temporary visitor visas, which are typically used for holidaymakers and do not give them work or social security rights.

Others escaping recent conflicts have been offered pathways to remain in Australia. Ukrainians were offered special three-year humanitarian visas, with the option of applying for permanent residency, while people fleeing Afghanistan and Syria were offered permanent resettlement pathways.

The Coalition’s former Temporary Protection Visas, which Paterson said should be used in this situation, did not allow people to apply for permanent visas, and the Albanese government abolished them.

Advocates for new arrivals from Gaza have said they fear the divisive political debate could derail Labor’s new visa pathway, which they have lobbied for because those fleeing Gaza are struggling to put food on the table without work rights or health benefits.

Asked what should happen to Palestinians already in Australia, Paterson said they should be assessed for short-term temporary protection visas. “That would allow them to stay for so long as it is unsafe for them to return,” he said.

“If, on the other hand, there’s evidence that some among this cohort are supporters of Hamas or other terrorist organisations, then the visas should be cancelled on character grounds, and they should be removed from Australia.”

But he said there should be no path to permanency. “I think the great virtue of Temporary Protection Visas is it offers people a safe haven when it is unsafe to return to their home,” he said.

“But when the circumstances change, they are able to return. This is a policy approach which has worked very successfully, for example, with Sri Lankan migrants to Australia in the past.”

He said he believed it would be possible for Palestinians to return to Gaza despite the fact many who fled had lost their homes. “Gaza will have to be rebuilt. There will be a ceasefire, the conflict will end, and the objective must be for it to be a place that people can live again,” Paterson said.

“I mean, there are millions of people now living in Gaza. For their sake, as well as the ones who might wish to return, we should make sure Gaza is a place that can be peaceful and safe and habitable again.”

Labor kept rebuffing the Coalition’s attack as the visa issue dominated question time for a fourth straight day of parliament on Tuesday, insisting the government had confidence in security agencies and painting the Coalition as hypocritical.

“What our agencies do is to constantly examine issues. That doesn’t stop when someone is granted a visa,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. He pointed out the Coalition had issued visitor visas to 1991 people from Afghanistan, 4994 people from Iraq and 1505 from Syria during its time in office, despite there being conflict in those nations.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the opposition had been “voiceless and clueless on the most important issue that people can face right now”. “Every single question on the Middle East. Not one single question on middle Australia,” he said.

“Another day doubling down on divisiveness and diversion. Another day of scaremongering from the leader of the opposition, and another day of silence from the shadow treasurer on the economy.”

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. It was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, in which militants killed about 1200 people and abducted 250 others.

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