James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs, Senator Watt. At Senate estimates earlier this month the Department of Home Affairs confirmed that between 7 October and 31 December the department granted 2,127 visitor visas and an additional 148 migration and temporary visas to people with Palestinian identity documents. An ABC report on 9 December last year said that some visas were being processed in less than an hour. Can the minister confirm that adequate security checks were conducted on all of the individuals from Gaza who were granted visas?

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

Thank you, Senator Paterson. The short answer to Senator Paterson's question is yes. And I note that this is not the first time this question has been raised by members of the opposition. In fact, what they are doing is raising questions about a process that is exactly the same under this government as it was under the former government, when Mr Dutton was the home affairs minister. So, it seems that a process that was okay for Mr Dutton in terms of how visas were approved for people overseas is now not good enough to be applied by a Labor government, done in exactly the same way as it was by Mr Dutton.

The fact is that under this government, just as under the former government, all people applying for visas, no matter where they're from, are required to undergo security checks. This has been the case under all governments. But what we're seeing from the opposition is an attempt to whip up fear about Palestinian residents being granted visas, if they are seeking to come here, under the same process that was applied under the former government. All this is showing is that yet again the opposition will use conflict overseas—absolutely devastating conflict, where we have seen tens of thousands of lives lost—to whip up fear and seek to generate conflict in our community, even over a process that is exactly the same as it was when Mr Dutton was the home affairs minister himself.

Figures that have come from the Department of Home Affairs show that when Mr Dutton was the home affairs minister he granted more than 500 visas each week to Syrians fleeing the country in 2015, with a total of more than 12½ thousand visas granted. The former government also approved 5,000 temporary visas for Afghans in just over one month in 2021. The same security agencies performed the same security checks on those visa holders as the checks that have been performed for just 2,273 visas granted to Palestinian residents over 17 weeks. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Paterson, a first supplementary?

James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 22 February Sky News reported that one of the individuals granted a visa and already living in Australia expressed support for the horrific terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October. How is it that this person was granted a visa if sufficient checks were supposedly conducted as you have just said?

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

It's almost as if there were a close relationship between the opposition and Sky News, based on the questions that we've had here today! We know that all of you beat the door down in order to beat each other into the Sky News studio 10 times a day. Hello, all of my friends in Sky News! You're obviously now drafting questions for the opposition—a bit of a promotional campaign for Sky News from Senator Paterson and his colleagues.

But, again, the point is that the process that is being used to grant Palestinian visas is exactly the same process that was used when Mr Dutton was the home affairs minister and when he approved visas for people coming from other conflict zones around the world, places like Syria, places like Afghanistan. I think it is clear that not only will the opposition do whatever it takes to whip up fear in the community but they will also go on the attack against our national security agencies, because we rely on the advice of national security agencies in making these decisions, and that's not good enough for the shadow home affairs minister.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister Watt. Senator Paterson, second supplementary?

James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What assurances can the minister provide Australians that no more Hamas supporters have been or will be let into Australia on your watch?

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

Thank you, Senator Paterson. The assurance I can give all Australians is that the Albanese government relies on the advice of our national security agencies in making decisions like this, in making decisions about visas that are granted, respecting our national security agencies and the advice that they provide, rather than trying to play politics with national security matters, which is something that, let's face it, Mr Dutton has done his entire political career. He only has one trick, and that is to whip up fear based on national security matters, whether they're right or whether they're wrong. He thinks nothing of using our national security agencies and their personnel as political pawns in his game. We, on the other hand, actually respect our national security agencies. We have confidence in them to make the right decisions and provide the right advice. Coming into the chamber before running into the Sky News studio, which you'll all be racing to do straight after question time is over—that's what the priority for the opposition is, rather than actually treating national security agencies seriously. For a man who says that he treats national security seriously, I'm surprised by Senator Paterson. (Time expired)