A record number of Palestinians brought into Australia by Labor on visitor visas are being allowed to stay in the country after filing asylum claims.
Last month 166 Gazans filed onshore protection visa applications, making them the second largest group by nationality after 224 Chinese, according to data revealed in the senate on Monday, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Indians made 161 applications out of the August total of 2,255.
Of the approximately 3,000 Palestinians granted visitor visas by the Albanese government, 1,300 have made it to Australia, and as many as 70% of those could now have filed for asylum since there have been 915 applications since January.
But no Palestinian applications have been approved or rejected since June, and Immigration Minister Tony Burke is yet to confirm details of a promised “special pathway” allowing those fleeing Gaza permanent residency and special benefits.
Senior government sources revealed last month that Mr Burke was planning to create a new visa category allowing Palestinians to stay permanently, work and access Medicare.
Mr Burke is being targeted by Muslim voting blocs in his heavily Islamic western Sydney electorate of Watson, which is 25.1% Muslim and just 45% Australian-born, due to anger over Labor’s handling of the Gaza conflict.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since October 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton last month said that granting visas to Palestinians fleeing Gaza was a national security risk, and intelligence chief Mike Burgess flip-flopped on whether support for Hamas should be grounds for visa refusal.
Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Dan Tehan said Labor could not be trusted on immigration or border security, pointing to the backlog of 85,687 failed asylum seekers who were yet to be deported, with only 19 leaving in August.
“Any competent government should have anticipated that people fleeing a terrorist-controlled war zone would seek asylum in Australia,” he said.
“Labor has issued almost 3,000 visitor visas to Palestinians but had no plan for what happens after they arrive in Australia.
“Can the Prime Minister guarantee that all Palestinians who arrived on tourist visas and claimed asylum have been through the proper security checks?”
Header image: A “Free Palestine” rally in Melbourne on October 15, 2023 (Matt Hrkac from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
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