Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, why is Australia handing out tourist visas to Gazans from a terrorist controlled war zone in an average of 24 hours and, in some cases, as quickly as one hour, while bypassing all the usual checks, including those that the former coalition government used in Syria? Will the Prime Minister admit that the government's visas for votes scheme was only done to shore up votes in the seats of Watson, McMahon and Blaxland?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If someone is on their feet I always give them the courtesy; you don't need to tell me who I'm calling or not, Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the House, on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, as you previously ruled, under standing order 100 there is a rule on imputations that doesn't apply elsewhere in debate. You ruled previously that, when it was used in a question, that exact phrase is not appropriate. It's now being used deliberately in defiance of that ruling.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business, on a point of order.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the first point to make is that this was a question about the government's policy settings. There was no reference to any individual. This was a question about the government's policy settings. The standing order that the Leader of the House refers to is one that the government flouts on numerous occasions. For example, the question asked of the Minister for Health and Aged Care after decades of cuts and neglect. Let's have a consistent approach, Mr Speaker, to the questions asked by both sides.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm going to deal with this in an orderly and respectful way. We don't need commentary from the sidelines. I'm going to ask the member to state the question again because I didn't hear the full question. I want to make sure it's within standing orders and that, within the question, there are no reflections on any ministers or individuals.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister, why is Australia handing out tourist visas to Gazans from a terrorist controlled war zone in an average of 24 hours and, in some cases, as quickly as one hour, while bypassing all the usual checks, including those the former coalition government used in Syria? Will the Prime Minister admit that the government's visas for votes scheme was only done to shore up votes in the seats of Watson, McMahon and Blaxland?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There's a collective imputation, but I'm going to allow the Prime Minister to answer the question.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

More people came from Syria under visitor visas when they were in government, when ISIS was in charge of a large amount of Syria, than the 1,300 people who have come from the occupied Palestinian territories. Can I note this as well: there have been 5,491 visitor visas granted from Israel as well. And let me say this: those people are welcome here.

What is going on here is so obvious, and the member for Groom is certainly very conscious of it. You know it's a shocker when no-one on the frontbench will ask you. It goes up the back, in order to sledge a whole group of people who live in Western Sydney. I say this to those opposite: you can continue to sledge people in Western Sydney. What I'll continue to do as Prime Minister is represent the entire nation, including the good people of Western Sydney. They know that we take the same advice from the same security agencies, as the previous government did. We've rejected more than 7,000 visa applications. They also know—the member for Groom mightn't know, because he just asked the question he was given, so I don't blame him—that the Rafah Border Crossing is controlled by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities and it has been closed since May. But the member for Groom didn't come here from anywhere in the Middle East. Well, while people were coming in from the Middle East, under the previous government, the member for Groom wasn't here, to be fair, otherwise maybe he would have been asking questions in parliament about—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members on my left and right will cease. The Minister for Social Services will cease interjecting so I can hear the member for Wannon on a point of order.

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

This goes to relevance. The question is: why is Australia handing out tourist visas to Gazans from a terrorist controlled war zone in an average of 24 hours?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the House, on a point of order.

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He didn't require the question to be reworded, but it was a wide-ranging sledge. Surely any answer that the Prime Minister gives is able to come within the contours of that sledge of a question.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question at the end was about shoring up votes and a question around that type of nature, particularly electorates, which the Prime Minister was referring to about Western Sydney, of course, is being directly relevant. Just make sure that, if he's talking about electorates, perhaps he can go into greater detail about the electorates. But, if you're going to ask a question that has a political—

I know, the Member for Groom, you're not in trouble. Just for the member for Wannon: if you don't like the answer, I can appreciate that. It's not appropriate just to take a point of order if you don't like the answer. The Prime Minister has the call.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say this to the good people of Watson, Blaxland and McMahon: we will respect every one of you, regardless of who you are, regardless of your faith, regardless of your ethnicity. We won't vilify you, we won't attack you, we won't undermine you because we understand that strong people don't have to tell people how strong they are; bullies do.