Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since the October 7 attacks, the government has granted at least 3,000 visas to Palestinians—mostly visitor visas. On average, these approvals have been completed within a single day—in some instances within an hour. While this government is issuing tourist visas to Gazans as quickly as they can be emailed, my office is being inundated with requests for support from Australians who cannot have their family members visit them owing to overzealous rejections. A respected Lebanese-Australian business owner in my electorate employs 40 staff. While the partner visa of his new wife has been assessed over the next two to three years, the government has rejected her tourist visa applications. A beloved local couple of South African origin have been left heartbroken after their son's tourist visa has been rejected despite multiple prior visits to Australia without incident. When the nuns of the Carmelite Monastery in Ormiston sought to bring a couple of their Thai sisters to visit as part of a longstanding cultural exchange program, these applications were twice rejected.

We have a situation where the sisters of the Carmelite order are deemed to carry too much risk by this government, yet for those coming from a terrorist-controlled war zone we are seeing thousands of tourist visas approved—in some cases within an hour. What an absolute joke! This unfair and inconsistent approach is putting Australia's security at risk. More importantly, or just as importantly, it is insulting the hardworking Australians who happen to have family members or other connections overseas.