Key Points
- ASIO chief executive Mike Burgess said his comments regarding visa checks for Palestinians fleeing Gaza were biased.
- Burgess first made comments in August that “rhetorical support” was different from material support for Hamas.
- Burgess has now clarified that online support for the October 7 Hamas attacks would be a “problem” for the candidates.
The director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) says his comments on the process of vetting Palestinians fleeing Gaza have been biased as debate over people entering Australia from war-torn Gaza continues .
Speaking on ABC’s Insiders in August, Mike Burgess said Palestinians applying for Australian visas who had expressed “rhetorical support” for Hamas should be viewed differently from those who had provided Hamas with financial or material assistance.
Burgess said some Palestinians might express support for Hamas because they “want their homeland.”
“If it’s just rhetorical support and they don’t have an ideology or support for violent extremist ideology, then that’s not a problem,” Burgess said.
Burgess’ comments sparked controversy amid the ongoing fight between the Albanian government and opposition over visas for people fleeing Gaza.
In an interview to be broadcast at 7:30 p.m. on ABC, Burgess said those comments had been twisted and misrepresented in the weeks that followed.
Burgess said ASIO focuses on whether a person may pose a direct or indirect threat to security and may be subject to an adverse security assessment.
He also said that online support for Hamas would also be inspected and that expressing support for Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 would be “a problem.”
“I said if you support a Palestinian homeland, you might not be sidelined, because that in itself is not a problem,” he said.
“But I also said that if you have a violent extremist ideology, or if you provide material or financial support to a terrorist organization, that will be a problem.”
Burgess also commented in the 7.30 interview on criticism of his transparency regarding ASIO’s decision-making.
“You need to explain the threats to the people you protect, not just tell the government,” he said.
Visa debate continues
Last month, saying it put Australia’s “national security” at risk.
Dutton said Burgess’ comments on Insiders were concerning.
“I just think all Australians would be shocked to think that the government is bringing people in from a war zone and ASIO is not carrying out stops and searches on these people,” he said.
and stressed that civilians have not been able to leave Gaza since May, after the Rafah crossing was closed.
Palestine Advocacy Network President Nasser Mashni called Dutton’s comments “another blatant example of abhorrent and increasingly normalized racist policies designed to stoke fear and hatred against the Palestinian people.”
Following Dutton’s comments, opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said Albanese needed to clarify whether people who supported Hamas would be allowed into Australia.
“We were deeply concerned about the level of security checks that were being carried out,” Tehan told Sky News. “It was unprecedented that people were coming from a war zone governed by a listed terrorist organization on tourist visas.”
More than 1,200 Israelis were killed when Hamas militants launched their October 7 attack, according to Israeli figures.
Around 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the eleven months following Israeli reprisals against Gaza, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
Home Office figures released in August show Australia has rejected the majority of visa applications from Palestinians fleeing Gaza.
Since the Hamas attack on October 7 through August 12, the government rejected 7,111 visa applications and granted 2,922.
During the same period, 8,746 visas were granted to Israeli citizens while 235 visa applications were rejected.
