Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Members of this House might remember that on 22 August two questions were asked of the Prime Minister. They were put to him in very clear terms. They went to the heart of the issue that we've been asking questions about today. The question was: Prime Minister, does supporting Hamas pass the character test for an Australian visa? Sadly, on 22 August he was asked that question twice but refused to answer, and now we know why. He didn't want to answer that question, because he knew that what the government had done, in issuing tourist visas for those fleeing the Gaza war zone, was rushed, botched and put Australia's national security at risk. And what have we found out today? That that is exactly what has happened. A visa has been granted to Fayez Elhasani, an individual openly linked to listed terrorist organisations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The biggest concern that we've seen today is: now that this has come to light, what guarantees have been given from those opposite that this individual will be booted from the country? None. Do you think the Prime Minister, who wouldn't come to the dispatch box and answer one question asked of him today, would give a guarantee that he would make sure that this individual was removed from this country today? No, he would not. Do you think the new Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs would give such a guarantee? No, he would not—nothing of the kind.

Let's remember what happened. We saw tourist visas issued to these individuals fleeing the Gaza war zone. At least 1,300 people have arrived in this country on those tourist visas. We raised serious questions at the time about whether the proper security checks had been put in place. I'm sure all members on our side remember when we asked those questions. They remember that the Prime Minister verballed the Director-General of Security of ASIO. Do you think that the Prime Minister came in, apologised for doing that and corrected the record? No, he did not. Yet here we are now, where they are now saying, 'Oh, we are just hiding behind the Director-General of Security of ASIO.'

When are we going to see leadership from this Prime Minister on any issue? When are we going to see leadership from the Prime Minister, in particular on his No. 1 responsibility, keeping the Australian people safe? Once again, he refused to front up to the dispatch box today and answer important questions that the Australian people want answered. Not only that; he cut question time short. It didn't even go for an hour. I cannot remember the last time question time was cut short to less than an hour. The reason why he wanted to cut it short was that he didn't want to answer any more questions on this issue. Sadly, it's true. He is running scared.

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