Democracy activists welcome here say Aussie MPs, as new figures show few Hongkongers seek visas

Australian MPs slam China bounties and say HK democracy activists are welcome here, as figures show few HK passport holders seek visas.

Australian citizen Kevin Yam is one of eight expatriate democracy activists who have bounties on their heads. Picture: Jane Dempster

People fleeing Chinese oppression in Hong Kong should consider Australia as a destination, the leaders of a bipartisan group of parliamentarians say, as new figures show barely a handful of protection visas are granted to Hongkongers by Australia each year.

Labor MP Peter Khalil and Liberal senator James Paterson, the co-chairs of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said Australia should be a destination of choice for Hongkongers targeted by authorities following the 2020 imposition of Beijing’s national security laws on the former British colony

The issue has taken on new impetus after the Hong Kong police offered bounties for the arrests of eight Hong Kong democracy activists now based overseas, including Australian citizen Kevin Yam and resident Ted Hui, who lives in Australia on a temporary bridging visa.

In a joint statement, Mr Khalil and Senator Paterson condemned the bounties, which were announced early this month and accompanied by threats that Hong Kong’s police would “not stop chasing’’ the activists accused of breaking national security laws by Beijing.

“The arrest warrants and bounties on the heads of an Australian citizen and resident by the Hong Kong authorities are utterly unacceptable,’’ the pair told The Australian.

“Their rights to engage in free speech and political activism in Australia are protected and should never be interfered with by external parties.’’

Ted Hui, a pro-democracy legislator, is arrested during a democracy protest in Hong Kong in June 2020. Picture: Getty Images

Department of Home Affairs figures show that only small numbers of Hong Kong passport holders apply for protection in Australia each year, and barely a handful of protection visa are granted.

The figures show fewer than 350 Hongkongers in total applied for protection in the past three years. This compares to the more than 250 Indian passport holders who apply each month while already in Australia, and about 150 mainland Chinese citizens who also apply every month.

Hong Kong retained some independence from Beijing after it came back under Chinese rule in 1997, but widespread protests against creeping political interference in 2019 led to the imposition of mainland China’s national security laws in 2020.

In the last year before the laws came into effect, 2018-2019, just 62 holders of Hong Kong passports applied for Australian protection visas, with none granted.

The following year, covering the protest period, 164 people applied, with none granted as the Covid crisis began to take hold.

In financial year 2020-2021, 186 people applied as authorities came down hard on criticism of Beijing’s masters.

By 2021-2022, the number of applications had fallen to 85, and last financial year, numbers fell further, with just 70 applications. In each of those financial years, fewer than five protection visas were granted each year.

Riot police secure an area in Hong Kong in 2020. Picture: Getty Images

Home Affairs does not report specific visa numbers if the numbers are lower than five, meaning it could be as few as a single visa a year issued.

Many Hongkongers have instead taken advantage of their historic links to the UK and generous resettlement options, and instead gone to England, where the government was preparing for almost 500,000 people to apply for visas.

“Australia should aspire to be a destination of choice for the people of Hong Kong given the continued deterioration of freedoms and undermining of the rule of law,’’ Mr Khalil and Senator Paterson said. “Whether they choose to come as students, skilled workers or humanitarian applicants, our country will be better for their presence.”

The Australian arm of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China is part of a global network of parliamentarians from democracies that works to hold China to account for human rights abuses, foreign influence and creeping authoritarianism.

The bounties on the democracy activists were issued on July 4 and accused the eight people living in Australia, Canada, the US and Britain of breaching national security laws.

Mr Yam, a Melbourne-born lawyer and academic who lived for years in Hong Kong before returning to his city of birth, is an Australian citizen.

Mr Hui, a pro-democracy parliamentarian, was invited to Australia with his family on a tourist visa after being forced to flee Hong Kong.

While he is now on a temporary bridging visa, sources in Canberra have told The Australian the issuing of the bounty made it all but guaranteed he would receive permanent residency or citizenship rights in Australia.