One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson backs Peter Dutton on calling for a blanket ban on Gaza visas
‘I fear for the nation’: One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson backs Peter Dutton on calling for a blanket ban on Gaza visas. “I support Peter Dutton, we don’t want them, we don’t need them and we shouldn’t be allowing them in.”
One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has thrown her support behind Peter Dutton’s call for a blanket ban on refugees from Gaza over fears of Hamas sympathisers entering the country due to inadequate vetting.
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One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has sided firmly with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton who called on the government to reject all visa requests from Gaza.
Mr Dutton told Sky News host Peter Stefanovic on Wednesday morning he did not think anyone should be coming into Australia from a warzone and demanded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to explain the vetting process for Gazan arrivals.
The government has come under heightened scrutiny due to the recent immigration detainee debacle and now the close to 3000 visas being granted to people from Gaza, with Mr Dutton reiterating his demands in Question Time, to which Mr Albanese said the Coalition leader had chosen “once again to seek division”.
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday evening, Ms Hanson said Australia should not be taking in any refugees from Gaza over fears it could stoke higher security concerns after the recently increased terror threat level to ‘probable’.
I totally agree with him,” Ms Hanson said, before pointing to the large majority of people in Gaza supporting Hamas, a listed terrorist organisation which orchestrated the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
“Nearly 3000 people applied for visas to actually come out to Australia, we don’t know what their background is and it’s only purely based on documentation they filled out because investigations can’t be done into their births, deaths and marriages.”
According to Senate Estimates from late May, 2,686 Gazan refugees have been granted visas since the Israel-Hamas conflict began while 4,614 Palestinians had their visitor visas refused.
Ms Hanson said if the Palestinians who arrive in the country from Gaza claim refugee status, Australia would be “stuck with them” without knowing who they were.
“They should be going to a safe haven, a country closest to them, but a lot of these Arab countries don’t want them either.
“So we shouldn’t be taking these people into Australia, I have fear for the nation … we don’t know who they are, who they support, terrorist organisations – I’m sorry, I don’t want them here.”
Ms Hanson said individuals arriving in Australia from Gaza should be scrutinised heavily with their backgrounds checked, including whether they have been imprisoned and to agree to the laws of Australia.
“But that cannot be done,” she said.
“Some of these people receive their visas within 24-48 hours, it cannot, not possibly, be done correctly to comply with the rules that are needed, so this has been rushed through by the Albanese Labor government and it’s not in the interests of the Australian people.”
