‘Urgent’ visa safety for Afghan ADF staff

Scott Morrison says urgent efforts are being made to accelerate visa arrangements for Afghan interpreters targeted by the Taliban.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to media at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Scott Morrison says urgent efforts are being made to accelerate humanitarian visa arrangements for Afghan interpreters who helped the Australian Defence Force during the conflict and are now the subject of Taliban death threats.

The Prime Minister on Tuesday said he was “very aware” of the urgency to provide Afghan interpreters with the protection of humanitarian visas, but did not commit to a timeline for resettling those in danger.

At least 300 interpreters are seeking protection in Australia as allied troops depart Afghanistan and after Afghan translators employed by Australian troops were placed on a Taliban kill list for working alongside so-called “infidel enemies”.

“We are very aware of it,” Mr Morrison said. “And we are working urgently and steadfastly and patiently to ensure that we do this in the appropriate way, as we have done on earlier occasions.”

Mr Morrison said he believed Australia would be able to repeat past actions of providing safe refuge to people facing death threats, including Afghan interpreters. “This is not the first time we have had to support in these circumstances, bringing people to Australia under the appropriate visa arrangements for humanitarian visas that are in place. We have done this before safely. And we will be able to do it again.”

The Morrison government is under mounting pressure over the issue as other coalition nations such as the US make high-profile efforts to get their former Afghan staff out of the country.

US President Joe Biden has set a deadline of September 11 as the end of the nation’s 20-year military presence in the country. The last remaining Australian troops will also depart on this date.

During Senate estimates last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne was unable to give an assurance humanitarian visas for Afghan staff would be processed with any urgency, but The Australian understands they have the highest priority within the humanitarian caseload.

Australia has granted more than 1400 visas to locally engaged employees such as interpreters and their families since 2013.

But Labor senator Penny Wong on Tuesday accused the government of being too slow to evacuate thousands of local staff.

“Australia has a duty of care to these Afghan nationals who were vital to the Australian government operations over 20 years,” she said. “They now face threats from the Taliban and we have a moral obligation to act urgently to get them to safety.”