‘Not a problem’: Spy boss says Hamas sympathy not a visa dealbreaker

The nation’s top spy says Palestinians who have expressed rhetorical support for listed terror group Hamas will not necessarily be blocked from entering Australia, as the federal government prepares to announce a new visa pathway to help those fleeing the war in Gaza.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess also urged politicians to moderate their language, warning that inflammatory rhetoric could encourage aggrieved individuals to turn to violence.

ASIO boss Mike Burgess said inflammatory rhetoric from politicians and other public figures could encourage people to turn to violence. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Burgess, who last week raised the national terror threat level from “possible” to “probable”, said that providing financial support or material aid to Hamas may be a problem for Palestinians undergoing security checks as part of their visa application process.

It is a different matter if people are expressing support for Hamas because they “want their homeland”, he said.

“If it’s just rhetorical support, and they don’t have an ideology or support for a violent extremism ideology, then that’s not a problem,” Burgess told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.

“If they have a support for that ideology, then that will be a problem.”

Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007 and organised the October 7 attacks on Israel that led to an estimated 1200 deaths, is a listed terror organisation in Australia.

ASIO conducts security assessments on behalf of the government when assessing potentially risky visa applications.

Burgess’ comments echoed those of former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson, who told this masthead that Palestinian refugees who support Hamas should not be automatically excluded from Australia.

“Because you have sympathy with the terrorist group [Hamas] doesn’t mean to say that you will commit violence against someone,” Richardson said.

The government is preparing to announce new avenues to permanent residency for 1300 Palestinians, some of whom are struggling to make ends meet as their temporary visas block them from work and social security.

The Coalition has accused the government of not applying tough enough tests to those fleeing the war in Gaza, suggesting that sympathy for Hamas should rule people out of receiving an Australian visa.

“How can they possibly assure themselves there is not one Hamas supporter among them?” Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said in February of Palestinians fleeing to Australia from Gaza.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last week said that “you can’t be taking people out of a war zone” and insisted that Palestinian visa applicants be subject to biometric testing.

Burgess suggested on Sunday that biometric testing of visa applicants would be of no assistance to security agencies unless they were already registered in an Australian database.

“The critical point is: there are security checks,” he said.

“There are criteria by which people are referred to my service for review and when they are, we deal with that effectively.”

Burgess said that “politicians have to be care careful about their robust political debate” in an increasingly febrile and contentious climate.

Burgess said it was “unhelpful” for Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce to recently compare ballot papers to “bullets” at an anti-wind farm rally, adding that comments from Iran’s ambassador to Australia about wiping Israel off the map were a “classic terrible example of inappropriate, unacceptable language that can actually drive violence in our society”.

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