Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I'm sorry, Senator Cash. I'm answering the question. We know that the motivation of opposition is to make this a political contest. We also know that the background checks that were undertaken before the granting of any of these visas were exactly the same processes as those that occurred under the coalition. That is a factor that they seek to ignore every time they seek to make this into a political issue. I will search for the figures to answer the specific question. I'm sure they're here somewhere in my brief, but, obviously not being the minister responsible, they're not top of mind for me.

Our focus in managing these visa applications, as is the case for all issues surrounding the current conflict in the Middle East, is to ensure that we maintain social cohesion at all steps along the way. Again, that is something that the opposition has had no interest in, and they have sought to make this a political issue at every step of the way, most recently in relation to these Palestinian visas—