War of words erupts over Peter Dutton’s call to ban Gaza refugees

A fiery debate over the vetting process for Gazan refugees and questions over national security saw Anthony Albanese accused of misquoting the country’s chief security agent, and Peter Dutton accused of being “racist” in a war of words that dominated Parliament on Thursday.

The Opposition Leader was also accused of further splintering fragile social cohesion, as he doubled down in his demand for a blanket ban on refugees coming from Gaza, while the Government — which refused to be drawn on the specifics of the vetting process — sought to back in the country’s security agencies.

After catching some Coalition MPs by surprise on Wednesday, Mr Dutton and his shadow front bench on Thursday denied they were undermining the agencies as they demanded assurances from the Government that security checks on people who had sought refuge from the besieged enclave were robust.

It followed comments by ASIO director general Mike Burgess at the weekend that rhetorical support for listed terrorist organisation Hamas was not reason enough to reject a visa application, which the Coalition fear leaves the doors open for terrorist sympathisers to enter Australia.

One Liberal MP told The Nightly they were astonished Labor had not shut down the issue straight after Mr Burgess’ comments, saying the Government had created a nightmare situation for themselves in not getting on the front foot and providing reassurances.

Independent Fowler MP Dai Le, whose family fled war-torn Vietnam when she was a child, said while she understood the political machinations at play in the Coalition’s attempt to strongarm Labor over national security, it was not the key issue ordinary Australians were concerned about.

Ms Le, who’s western Sydney electorate is among the most multicultural and multi-faith in the country, said almost everyone in her seat was primarily concerned about rising costs and how they will make ends meet.

“I just wish that the major parties were really connected more at the grass root level … connected to what really matters, the pragmatic, the practical, the day-to-day living of ordinary Australians,” she told The Nightly.

A Liberal MP said while cost-of-living was a pervasive issue, the government had damaged its own agenda this week by not offering the assurances the Coalition were seeking.

“Cost of living is a problem for the government. It’s even worse for a government if, while people are concerned about cost of living, the government is having a debate with the opposition about whether we’re letting terrorists into the country or not,” they said.

Coalition MPs and Mr Dutton spent Thursday hosing down suggestions the call for a blanket ban was discriminatory, inflamed tensions, or was “racist” as independent Zali Steggall had earlier framed it.

“I am offended by the rhetoric from the leader of the opposition, the nature of this suspension of standing orders and the continued attempts to divide the Australian society around these lines and issues,” the Warringah MP said as Mr Dutton sought to bring about debate earlier in the day.

Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns meanwhile gave an emotional statement to the House, warning that “collectively categorising people fleeting from war is harmful”.

“We do not have an immigration policy based on religion or race. We have not had one for a long time and we should never go back,” he said.

“The Palestinian people of Gaza, like my family and friends in Israel, did not choose this war and we must maintain our humanity and respect human rights for all.”

The Coalition said they had been worried about a lack of scrutiny over Gazan visa applications for months, pointing to revelations at Senate estimates earlier this year that some visas were approved in as little as one hour.

The government have confirmed that of the more than 10,000 Gazans who’ve applied for a temporary visa to Australia since October 7, 7111 have been rejected, but the Coalition’s questions about how many of those were on national security grounds have gone unanswered.

While the Rafah border has been closed since May, leaving Gazans unable to escape the war-torn enclave, the government is currently in the process of developing a new pathway for the estimated 1300 people who have arrived since October 7 whose visitor visas are about to expire.

A former senior public servant at the immigration department said while it was unlikely any Hamas fighter or supporter had been granted a visa, the government would be better off screening Gaza refugees through a humanitarian visa, rather than a visitor visa, because it would open individuals up to greater scrutiny.

“In the vast majority of episodes I can remember over the last 30 years and there have been many wars and conflicts, Australia has usually opted for some sort of humanitarian visa process,” Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary, told the ABC.

He said face-to-face interviews were a part of the humanitarian visa process, as were checking individuals against government lists, looking at their relationships with Australian citizens, and combing through their social media.

“Certainly with a humanitarian visa all these processes take place. With a visitor visa, generally not. That is at the discretion of the government, and I suspect in the case of this caseload there would have been a more extensive set of checks done, and it would probably explain the very high refusal rate,” he said.

Mr Rizvi said the call for a blanket ban was “unprecedented”, as was the Coalition’s questioning of ASIO’s process.

But the Coalition, dissatisfied with Labor’s assurances that all checks and balances have been carried out to ensure that group are not terrorist sympathisers, have also accused the Prime Minister of misleading parliament over his claims the same checks were being undertaken as took place when Syrian and Afghan refugees fled from conflict zones under the previous government.

The Coalition has argued that is incorrect, because no face-to-face interviews are being carried out with Gaza applicants in a third country, as was previous practice.

Mr Albanese, who had inferred ASIO have been involved in the process for all visa applicants, was then accused of deliberately misquoting Mr Burgess to further his own political message.

“It’s a significant issue. The Prime Minister has had his attention drawn to a serious matter ... the Prime Minister has gone on ... to deliberately mislead the house. That is what has happened here. He had deliberately misled the house. And he should correct the record,” the Opposition Leader told question time.

Mr Albanese was spared from having to apologise to the House, but as questions persisted he repeatedly reiterated that the government took its advice from the security agencies, which he had confidence in.

He also called on Mr Dutton to dial down the rhetoric and sought to bring the Coalition back to the biggest problems facing Australians.

“The fact is that what Australians are concerned about at the moment is education, health, and cost of living. All of those things (the Opposition) have refused to raise this week,” Mr Albanese said during Question Time.

“What they also don’t want to see, as (Mr) Burgess warned about, is social division. They want to see the temperaure taken down in this debate, right across the board.

“Australia is not a direct participant in this conflict, no matter how much some people in political life try to put us at the centre of it.

Crossbench senator Jacqui Lambie had earlier gone further, saying Mr Dutton was displaying “really bad leadership”.

“All you’re doing is starting to heighten the tempo here. You will trigger events here that we don’t want,” she said.

“The last thing you want to be doing is heightening anger in this country and that is exactly what Peter Dutton is doing.”