Peter Dutton has escalated the Coalition’s rhetoric against Palestinians fleeing the Gaza war zone, claiming that none should be allowed to Australia “at the moment” due to an unspecified “national security risk”.
The comments from the opposition leader on Wednesday contradict the assessment by the Asio spy chief, Mike Burgess, that rhetorical support for Hamas should not be an automatic bar to Palestinians receiving visas.
Dutton’s rhetoric was immediately rejected by senior Albanese government figures, who noted security checks are the same as when the Coalition was in power.
The Albanese government is now looking for ways to allow Palestinians who fled to Australia to stay longer, with the new home affairs minister, Tony Burke, declaring that no country should send people back to Gaza right now.
On Tuesday the shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, called on Labor to “ensure that no supporters of the listed terrorist organisation, Hamas, or any other terrorist organisation, come to Australia”, including cancelling the visas of any who might already be in Australia.
On Wednesday Dutton went further, telling Sky News: “I don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment. It’s not prudent to do so and I think it puts our national security at risk.”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, responded by saying Dutton “always seeks to divide”. “We take our advice from the director general of Asio and the security agencies, not from someone always looking for a fight, always looking for division,” he told ABC TV.
The government services minister, Bill Shorten, said that Dutton had “misfired on that”.
“I think if somehow he’s conflating the idea that every person [who] lives in Gaza is a member of Hamas, I don’t share that view,” Shorten told Radio National. “He hasn’t said that, but he says there’s risk.”
“Well, we currently have a process where Asio vet people, where we have national security checking and, memo to Peter Dutton, we’re using the same process that he used.
“So if he thinks our current process is no good, then what’s he saying about all the time when he was in charge?”
The shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, later clarified the Coalition is seeking to pause all humanitarian visas to those fleeing Gaza until “peace is restored”.
“The one thing you’ll always get with Peter [Dutton] - you don’t have to like him, but guess what? He will almost stand up for Australia, Australians and put the national interest first,” she said.
Cash was asked about whether she thought Dutton’s comments this morning caught her colleagues by surprise. Cash said she disagreed.
The Greens senator, David Shoebridge, said Dutton’s comments were “despicable” and accused him of “persecuting the victims” of the conflict.
The education minister, Jason Clare, called on Israel to end the “occupation” and “starvation”, a further sign that Labor is losing patience with Israel over its military action in Gaza after the 7 October terrorist attacks.
Clare also said that “there’s no one [coming] from Gaza at the moment” because “the Rafah gate’s closed”.
“Anyone that comes from Gaza, like anyone who comes from anywhere around the world, goes through security processing … [of] the same sort that existed when Peter Dutton was in power,” Clare told Radio National. “And he knows that.”
Clare invited Dutton to get a better understanding of the “human catastrophe” in Gaza by visiting his south-west Sydney seat of Blaxland to meet “great people” from Gaza who “had their homes blown up … had their school blown up … had their hospital blown up, who’ve had their kids blown up”.
“I’d like to see the killing end. I’d like to see the suffering end. I’d like to see the starvation end. I’d like to see Israel open the gate, there’s plenty of food and medicine in Israel.
“Put the food and medicine in the trucks and stop kids starving to death. I’d like to see the occupation end. I’d like to see a two-state solution with two people who can live side by side in peace and security rather than what’s happening at the moment.”
Labor MPs, including ministers, are increasingly frustrated at Israel’s conduct. The industry minister, Ed Husic, said earlier in August that Australia “should be open to” levelling sanctions against the Israeli government, including its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Husic told the Sunday Telegraph the Israeli prime minister would “need to be held to account for the conduct of the conflict”.
On Tuesday the foreign minister, Penny Wong, was asked in Labor caucus about the Middle East peace process.
Wong said the region is “particularly risky” with risks of escalation in Lebanon and vis-a-vis Iran. She said the situation in Gaza is “continuing to worsen”.
Australia supports the Joe Biden plan, which was approved by the UN security council, describing it as an “important but narrow” pathway to peace, she said.
