‘Full blockade’: Peter Dutton’s call on Gazan visas
Peter Dutton has defended his captain’s call for an outright ban on arrivals from the conflict zone of Gaza but moved to soften his rhetoric around refugees after he was branded ‘racist’.
Peter Dutton has escalated the domestic political contest over the war in Gaza, calling for an outright ban on arrivals from the conflict zone in a captain’s call branded as “racist” by Muslim groups.
The Opposition Leader announced the new position in a television interview on Wednesday without consulting the shadow cabinet, just a day after 79 Coalition MPs called for Hamas supporters be denied visas rather than all Gazans.
The move, condemned by Labor and the Greens, came as Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke scrambled to come up with a visa solution for more than 1300 Gazans already in Australia whose visitor permits are due to expire in coming weeks.
Speaking on Thursday morning, Mr Dutton defended his captain’s call but would not be drawn on whether he shared the position with his shadow cabinet colleagues, who The Australian understands were surprised by the decision.
“I’m not talking about internal discussions. It’s a discussion not for shadow cabinet to be honest,” Mr Dutton told Channel Nine.
“It’s a discussion with the national security team, and I’ve done that and it’s in our country’s best interests.”
In an attempt to soften his rhetoric after Mr Dutton was branded as “racist”, the opposition leader said he had no problem with refugees arriving from the Middle East.
“My job is to protect all Australians and that’s exactly what I’m doing, so I’m not discriminating on any basis,” he said.
“I’m happy to see people brought in from the Middle East if they’ve been properly checked or from America’s or from Asia or wherever it might be.”
He referred to the former Coalition government allowing refugees fleeing war zones to enter Australia but after a lengthy screening process.
A leading pollster said Mr Dutton’s policy call would deepen the divide between the major parties in the eyes of Muslim voters, benefiting Labor in key western Sydney seats to be targeted by pro-Palestine independents.
Updated figures reveal nearly 3000 visas have been granted to Gazans since the October 7 attacks on Israel, but more than 7100 applications from Gaza residents have been rejected.
Mr Burke vowed there would be “no compromise on national security”, but confirmed that face-to-face interviews were unable to be conducted with visa applicants in Gaza while Israel’s war against Hamas continued.
He said ASIO checked applications against an international security watchlist that was updated every 24 hours, but declined to say how many had been rejected on national security grounds.
“There is a process which ASIO is involved with, which applies to every single visa; whether you come from the United States or whether you come from the Gaza Strip,” Mr Burke said.
The opposition had attacked the government for refusing to say whether it would allow Hamas sympathisers to settle in Australia, after ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said “rhetorical support” for the listed terrorist group was not a problem for Palestinians seeking visas.
Mr Dutton went a step further on Wednesday morning, telling Sky News: “I don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment. It’s not prudent to do so, and I think it puts our national security at risk.”
Anthony Albanese said the Opposition Leader was “looking to divide” the nation, and his position was inconsistent with the Coalition’s past acceptance of refugees from conflicts in Afghanistan and Syria.
The Prime Minister declined to say whether an individual who supported a listed terrorist organisation such as Hamas would pass Australia’s character test. But Mr Albanese, who lifted the terrorism threat level to “probable” less than a fortnight ago, said “exactly the same system” was in place to vet visa applicants today as when Mr Dutton was in government.
“If the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t have confidence in that system, he should say so,” the Prime Minister said.
He pointed Mr Dutton to Mr Burgess’s recent warning that “inflamed language” was ramping up the threat of terrorism.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Australians should be alarmed at the lack of assurances by the government over the effectiveness of its “rushed Gaza visa process”.
“This is a war zone controlled by a terrorist organisation with no Australian officials on the ground to conduct interviews or biometric tests,” Senator Paterson said. “And yet they’ve granted almost 3000 visas in an average time of 24 hours and some as quickly as one hour. That’s reckless, especially after we’ve just raised the terrorism threat level, are grappling with an anti-Semitism crisis, and dealing with strained social cohesion.”
Greens home affairs spokesman David Shoebridge said Mr Dutton’s new position was “nothing short of despicable”.
“It shows the depths to which the Coalition has sunk in what is increasingly looking like a revolting, divisive approach … to demonise people who are only trying to flee from a genocide,” Senator Shoebridge said.
The Australian National Imams Council’s legal affairs adviser, Bilal Rauf, said Mr Dutton’s policy call was “racism at its finest”, and in line with the Opposition Leader’s past declaration that it had been a mistake to settle Lebanese Muslims in Australia during the 1970s.
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network also condemned Mr Dutton, accusing him of “stoking racist stereotypes, under the guise of national security”.
The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council stopped short of backing Mr Dutton’s proposed ban on Gazans, but said it was concerned at the potential for supporters of Hamas and other terrorist groups to enter Australia as refugees from the conflict.
“While we understand and support the need to help Palestinian civilians affected by the war Hamas launched on October 7, it’s also important to remember that opinion polls of Gaza residents show a significant majority not only support Hamas, but also its actions on that day,” said AJIAC executive director Colin Rubenstein.
Political pollster Kos Samaras said the Opposition Leader’s policy call had created a “really stark choice” between the major parties that meant Labor was “in a better space” in its appeal to Muslim voters. He said it would particularly help Mr Burke and fellow cabinet minister Jason Clare, who had faced pressure from Muslim communities in their electorates since October 7.
“Both (major parties) are looked upon by the Muslim community as bad and terrible. Labor is the lesser of two evils,” said the RedBridge Group’s director of strategy and analytics.
“This is clearly Dutton’s play – to appeal to certain outer-suburban electorates in outer-western Sydney, possibly seats like Blair (in Queensland). They’re largely monocultural … seats he’s going after. Regional electorates as well. The contrast is stark now – you either have a complete ban on Palestinian refugees or a humanitarian approach to them. Labor will be fairly sympathetic towards Palestinian refugees so (in Muslim seats) you either vote for an independent or a Labor candidate.”
Senior Coalition MPs said Mr Dutton’s policy shift was not flagged with the shadow cabinet before it was made public, but argued it was a “natural evolution” of the party’s position in recent days. In a letter to Mr Burke on Tuesday, almost all of the Coalition’s MPs and senators expressed alarm at Mr Burgess’s statement on Sunday that Hamas supporters could be granted visas as long as they were not supporters of “violent extremism”.
“We are gravely concerned that this statement of government policy signals a relaxed approach to the safety of Australians,” they said.
Additional reporting: Jack Quail
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