Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed the federal government is examining how it can allow Palestinians on temporary visitor visas to stay in Australia longer.
News of the move first emerged this week in a Nine newspapers report that said that the government was looking at creating a new special visa pathway for Palestinians so they did not have to return to Gaza. It cited anonymous, senior government sources.
Burke, who was recently appointed to the Home Affairs portfolio, told Sky News on Sunday it was appropriate to issue visitor visas when war broke out after the 7 October attack led by Hamas, the militant rulers of Gaza, on southern Israel. But they were now reaching their expiry.
He confirmed the government was looking at "the next step" for those affected but had not yet reached a final decision; so he could not reveal further details.
"Certainly no country in the world would send people back to Gaza at the moment, no country in the world would do that; so we have to work through what happens as the visas that people are currently on expire," Burke said.
Burke was tight-lipped when asked whether the government was considering offering Safe Haven visas or some form of permanent protection.
Temporary visas last three to 12 months and do not grant recipients access to work, education or healthcare. A Safe Haven visa allows a five-year stay in Australia, while an indefinite stay is permitted under a permanent Protection Visa. Those two visas also allow holders to access certain government services like Medicare.
"When you consider what these individuals have gone through — you’ve got lots of people who have experienced serious trauma." Burke said.
"They’ve suffered great loss of family and friends with the killings that have occurred over there, and they’re also in a situation where for many of them the homes where they used to live are now rubble."
Responding to the confirmation, Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie told Sky News the idea "looks hurried" and the Opposition would "want to see as much detail as possible".
"We don’t want to see hurried visas issued out of political expediency," Hastie said.
Burke told Sky News the government would not compromise on security checks and community safety was paramount.
Since the 7 October attack, the government has granted 2,823 temporary visas to people declaring Palestinian citizenship, including 2,499 visitor visas, as of 30 June. It has granted 3,309 visitor visas to people declaring Israeli citizenship, as of 31 March.
As of 31 May, 1,120 Palestinians had arrived in Australia. Of those, 422 had applied for a protection (subclass 866) visa. There were 387 Palestinian bridging visa holders — seven who have been granted a bridging visa E (BVE).
Independent senator David Pocock has previously called on the government to issue humanitarian visas to those fleeing Gaza, which were extended to people fleeing the war in Ukraine, and Afghan nationals after Kabul fell to the Taliban.
At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, according to Gaza health officials.
The offensive was triggered by the 7 October attack in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 abducted, according to Israeli tallies.
Almost 90 per cent of Gazans — about 1.9 million people — have been displaced while 495,000 are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, according to the United Nations.
With reporting by the Reuters news agency via the Australian Associated Press.
