No special visas required for white South African farmers, Libs say

Liberal MPs have accused the left of trying to ‘hijack’ the debate about white South African farmers by making it a race issue.

Coalition MP Andrew Hastie in parliament. Picture: AAP

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, who led backbenchers urging the government to give refuge to white South African farmers, says no special visa category is needed because they should be protected under Australia’s current refugee program.

The West Australian MP, one of six backbenchers who last week told the Coalition partyroom the government should assist the farmers, said he was not seeking special treatment for the group. He noted Australia had responded with one-off refugee intakes in past humanitarian crises as he hit back at the “Green-left” who he said had turned the issue into one about race.

“We have a non-discriminatory approach to our humanitarian visa program and on that basis the question of race is irrelevant. The issue is simply whether these people are in danger, and I think the evidence bears that out. ” Mr Hastie said. “Those on the left who bring up race are using it as a political smokescreen. For Nick McKim, Sarah Hanson-Young and others to suggest we are doing this on the basis of race is utterly false. They’ve tried to hijack this debate through the prism of identity politics, and we are refusing to accept those terms.

“This isn’t about special treatment, it’s about looking at the evidence and helping people. I refuse to accept the argument of the Green-left, who have tried to suggest that race is at play.”

The other MPs who spoke out in the partyroom were Craig Kelly, Jim Molan, Andrew Lamming, Luke Howarth and Steve Irons.

The MPs said they were not trying to suggest how Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton should run his department but instead gave voice to the notion the South African farmers deserved Australian support. Mr Kelly and Liberal senator Eric Abetz yesterday called for a one-off intake of white South African farmers, similar to the intake of displaced Syrians agreed to by the Abbott government in 2015.

Mr Lamming said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade needed to look in “more detail” at any refugee applications from South African farmers, believing it was problematic to deem dislocated farmers safe if they had merely escaped to South African cities.

Mr Howarth said he had a lot of South African people in his electorate and they were “good people” who fitted in with Australian culture.

“The issue I have is with the left of politics, the Greens and others, that as soon as you mention that a white person is being persecuted they call you racist,” he said.