On pure policy grounds, Peter Dutton, is correct to say that there should be virtually no-one accepted into Australia from Gaza at the moment.
At the same time, the Albanese government’s refusal to say that supporting a terrorist organisation is unacceptable for someone seeking to come into Australia is actually an unprecedented and wildly radical new policy which the government must explain or abandon.
On policy grounds, every participant to the diplomatic process around Gaza says the Palestinians should not move out of Gaza.
Otherwise, in a morning’s walk, hundreds of thousands of Gazans could be granted temporary asylum in Egypt right next door, and return after the fighting finishes.
This could easily be financed by international donors. But not only does Egypt not want this, the fear among policy makers is that Gazans would not voluntarily return.
But if it’s bad policy for them to go to Egypt, how is it good policy for them to come to Australia?
Secondly, if refugees are to be resettled it has for a long time been preferred UN policy that where possible they are resettled in the region they come from.
Gaza is surrounded by hundreds of millions of Arabic speaking people in predominantly Muslim, Arab and North African countries.
In those countries they face no language difficulties and very little cultural distance from the host community.
If people are to be resettled internationally those are the obvious countries, though of course none of them is willing to do it.
Thirdly, it has long been Australian policy to be extremely cautious about taking people from radicalised populations.
On all the evidence, many Gazans, possibly a majority, support Hamas in principle.
Australia can and should have a generous refugee policy without accepting radicalised people.
Yet, and here’s another critical policy consideration, Hamas in its entirety is proscribed as an illegal terrorist organisation under Australian law.
The recent statement that some level of support for Hamas is acceptable among people seeking to come to Australia, so long as it is not strong ideological support, is baffling, radical and unacceptable.
The Albanese government is typically slow and cowardly in taking hard decisions. When it takes an unpopular decision it frequently tries to hind behind the bureaucracy.
But the Prime Minister has a moral, political and policy obligation to be clear on this core matter of principle.
Is it now Australian government policy that support for a terrorist organisation is not enough to disqualify someone from coming to Australia, indeed coming and settling permanently?
You can well imagine someone who supports a terrorist organisation in a general way but doesn’t raise money for it or act physically to implement its goals.
That level of support for terrorism is still full of danger for Australia and has never been an acceptable basis for living in Australia.
The government has got itself into an absurd situation, a completely ridiculous rhetorical bind, in which it cannot even say that supporting a terrorist organisation disqualifies an applicant from coming to Australia.
If that is the government’s position it should not hide behind ASIO but actually tell us how it came to such a radical conclusion – that some support for a terrorist organisation is OK – and whether this is now Australian policy going forward.
Interrogating these issues is not remotely racist.
Alliances, resources central to future national security
The PM and the President will meet at a key point in ANZUS history.
Marks takes ABC back to basics
Let’s hope that managing director Hugh Marks leads the ABC out of the news wilderness of cyber space and restores the credibility eroded over the past decade.
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