ASIO boss Mike Burgess’s clarity to make Palestinian visa stance pass muster

ASIO boss Mike Burgess says remarks endorsing terrorism, the destruction of Israel or the October 7 massacre would result in negative security assessments after arguing rhetorical support for Hamas was ‘not a problem’.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

ASIO chief Mike Burgess has clarified the type of support for Hamas that would result in individuals receiving negative security assessments, declaring that any endorsement of terrorism, the destruction of Israel or the Oct­ober 7 massacre would “not pass muster”.

Mr Burgess made clear it would be problematic even to like a tweet promoting as acceptable the October 7 terror attack by Hamas in which 1200 Israelis were killed and 250 people taken hostage.

With nearly 3000 visas having been issued to people leaving Gaza and the West Bank amid the Middle East conflict, Australia in August became embroiled in a political debate after the spy chief said “rhetorical support” for Hamas would not necessarily pose a problem for those seeking entry to the country.

Speaking on the ABC’s Insiders on August 11, Mr Burgess made clear that anyone who supported a “violent extremism ideology” or provided financial assistance or material aid to Hamas would encounter difficulties.

“If it’s just rhetorical support and they don’t have an ideology – or support for a violent extremism ideology – then that’s not a problem,” he said.

“If they have a support for that ideology, that will be a problem.”

The reference to rhetorical support led to confusion and drew widespread criticism.

­Anthony Albanese refused to answer questions in parliament on whether government policy required backers of Hamas to be disqualified from entry under the Migration Act’s character test.

Mr Burgess on Tuesday provided new comments to the ABC’s 7.30 program, clarifying his August 11 remarks and arguing that people had “chosen to distort what I said”.

“I said if you support a Palestinian homeland, that may not discount you [from entering Australia] because that by itself is not a problem. But I also said if you have a violent extremist ideology, or you provide material or financial support to a terrorist organisation, that will be a problem,” he said.

“If you think terrorism is OK, if you think the destruction of the state of Israel is OK, if you think Hamas and what they did on the 7th of October is OK, I can tell you that is not OK. And from an ASIO security assessment point of view, you will not pass muster.

“We focus on: are you a threat to security, a direct or indirect threat to security? And if we find you such, we will do an adverse security assessment, which would result in you not getting a visa, most likely.”

The Prime Minister accused the Coalition of undermining Mr Burgess, saying it was “extraordinary, frankly, that the Coalition went into question time day after day after day, and through their questioning were questioning Mike Burgess’s determination to keep Australians safe”.

The Coalition rejected suggestions it lacked confidence in intelligence agencies, with opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson saying the clarification from Mr Burgess meant the government should explain whether it supported supporters of Hamas being granted visas. He said the key question was whether the government was allowing in Hamas supporters or turning them away under the Migration Act’s character test and noted that security assessments from ASIO became relevant only when cases were referred to it.

Peter Dutton welcomed Mr Burgess’s clarification, again claiming Mr Albanese had misled parliament by suggesting ASIO conducted checks on all individuals coming into Australia from the Middle East. “I think he’s put Mr Burgess in a difficult position” the Opposition Leader said. “I think, frankly, the Prime Minister should be apologising to the ASIO boss.”

The Australian revealed on Tuesday some 749 Palestinians had applied for protection visas since October 7.