Opposition leader Peter Dutton has doubled down on his call to bar all refugees fleeing the war in Gaza from entering Australia.
Speaking to Today, Dutton confirmed he had made the initial announcement yesterday after speaking with his “national security team”, which includes Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie and Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson.
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It was a step up from the Coalition’s previous call for tougher scrutiny on Palestinian refugees, and not one discussed with the shadow cabinet.
“We have to make decisions and they can be tough decisions,” Dutton told Today.
“But the decisions that are in our country’s best interests.”
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Dutton accused the government of being lax on security, claiming not all applicants were subject to face-to-face interviews before being issued visitor’s visas.
Australia has granted more than 2600 visas to Palestinians, and rejected a further 4600, since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, according to Senate Estimates from May.
Of those, only about 1300 have arrived and remain in Australia.
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“So (the government) said that they will bring people into Australia who are sympathisers with a listed terrorist organisation,” Dutton said.
“Could you imagine if we were proposing to bring people in who were sympathetic to another listed terrorist organisation, like al-Qaeda or ISIL or ISIS? It’s completely unacceptable.
“You bring 3000 people in, let’s say 99 per cent are good.
“If one per cent, 30 people, are questionable or sympathisers with a listed terrorist organisation, how on earth is that in our country’s best interests?”
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has previously said that “rhetorical” sympathy for Hamas would not be considered an automatic bar to entry.
The government has claimed the processes are in place are the same as those Dutton oversaw during his time as Home Affairs Minister, and that all visa applications were checked against ASIO protocols.
However, Dutton said the decision to grant visitor visas to people from a war zone without face to face interviews was “unprecedented”.
He said ASIO should not be made the “scapegoat” for a “bad government”.
“We should stop people coming in from a war zone … that’s what we should do,” he said.
“Because we don’t know if the proper checks haven’t been done.”
The number of visas granted to Palestinians fleeing Gaza is dwarfed by the number of visas granted to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, which stands at 11,500 so far, 11,400 of whom have arrived in Australia, according to the Department of Home Affairs.
The current war in Gaza was sparked by the October 7 attacks by Hamas, which saw about 1200 Israelis killed, and hundreds more kidnapped as hostages.
Israel’s military response, which has come under increasing condemnation internationally, has so far killed nearly 40,000 people, according to Hamas-run Gazan health authorities.
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