Australia’s new immigration minister is set to create a special visa pathway allowing Palestinians fleeing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to stay permanently.
The new visa will be one of the first announcements made by Tony Burke, who is being targeted by political group The Muslim Vote in his heavily Islamic western Sydney seat of Watson, senior government sources told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Visa holders would be allowed to work and access Medicare, and comes along with $2.6 million in taxpayer funds to help new arrivals settle in Australia.
There are already 1,300 Palestinian refugees in Australia, but they are currently on visitor visas which require applicants to prove they wish to return to Gaza, where about 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said this week the emergence of Muslim voting blocs targeting Labor MPs in multicultural seats in Sydney and Melbourne could result in Mr Burke going easy on Palestinian visa applicants.
Mr Burke’s electorate is 25.1% Muslim and just 45% Australian-born, according to the 2021 Census.
“It’s an idiotic statement and I’ll treat lies with the contempt they deserve,” responded Mr Burke, who was sworn-in on Monday to take over the Immigration and Home Affairs portfolio from Andrew Giles, who presided over a series of immigration and asylum seeker debacles while in the role.
Sanmati Verma from the Human Rights Law Centre said not granting Palestinians permanent visas already had been a “dereliction of duty” by the government, and said that requiring them to get family-sponsored visitor visas would mean many would stay in Australia illegally once those temporary visas expired.
An important meeting with Israel’s Foreign Minister, @Israel_katz, in Jerusalem, where I expressed Australia’s unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7. pic.twitter.com/Ktek5qBBUD
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) July 30, 2024
Labor’s visa move comes amid Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s ongoing trip to Israel, where he has drawn criticism for declaring his support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite not being in government.
Australians from across the political spectrum have objected to his visit, with some accusing Mr Dutton of supporting Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza, while others asked how the trip benefited Australians.
“We don’t care about Israel,” one popular response on X read.
“Why does an opposition leader (not in power) need to discuss anything with any foreign country? Asking for a friend,” wrote another X user.
A third asked: “Did you tell them to stop committing genocide?”
“Israel through the IDF is slaughtering thousands upon thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians and children! What are your thoughts about this?” asked one of his Facebook followers.
But not all of the responses were negative, with Jewish groups congratulating Mr Dutton on taking the trip.
“Nice to see some leadership in Australia that doesn’t hate Israel, for a change,” wrote the Australian Jewish Association.
