Growing push for 10,000 South African farmers

Liberal MPs are pushing for a special intake of up to 10,000 South African farmers.

Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge. Picture: Kym Smith

Persecuted white South African farmers have started applying for entry to Australia under the ­humanitarian program, with the number of applications expected to grow as Liberal MPs push for a special intake of up to 10,000 people.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton — who is awaiting advice from his department on options to assist the endangered farmers — also reaffirmed his conviction that Australia could “accommodate some of those people into the ­(humanitarian) program”.

Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge yesterday said that South African farmers having their land expropriated without compensation and facing targeted and brutal attacks were “indeed facing persecution”.

Mr Tudge confirmed that the government had “already received a number of applications from South Africans” but stopped short of saying that a special intake was under consideration.

“I imagine we will be receiving many more applications and of course they will be processed ­accordingly, in line with other ­applications that we receive from around the world,” he told Sky News.

“My message to them, as it is now, is that Australia is a very generous country to those people who are in need. We have a non-discriminatory policy, and consequently those people who may be facing persecution can apply for a humanitarian visa and come into Australia under that way.”

West Australian Liberal MP Andrew Hastie is pushing the ­government to clarify what it will do to help those farmers whose lives are in danger, telling The Australian he thought the issue should be thrashed out at the next cabinet meeting.

Mr Hastie and his West Australian Liberal colleague Ian Goodenough are urging the government to accept a special intake of up to 10,000 persecuted South Africans.

They have forwarded to Mr Dutton a letter from the South ­African community proposing broader changes to visa rules that would allow Australian residents to bring over family members from overseas if their lives were in danger.

“I think that we should consider an intake as we have done so for Syrian refugees in the past,” Mr Hastie told Sky News.

“Now I’m not going to tell the minister (Mr Dutton) how to do his job, that’s something that he decides in collaboration with the Prime Minister and cabinet. But certainly my view is well known”.

Assistant Minister to the Treasurer Michael Sukkar welcomed the push by Mr Hastie and Mr Goodenough, but said the government had already made clear there was no pressing need for a special visa category.

“I think there’s no doubt that farmers in South Africa face a dire situation,” Mr Sukkar told Sky News. “I must say, I’m pretty surprised that anybody would criticise a government for taking a compassionate approach to any persecuted group.”

There are a number of ways for South Africans to gain entry to Australia apart from the humanitarian program. Over the past decade about 60,000 South Africans have come to Australia through the skilled migration program while another 10,000 have come through the family visa system.