Australian premier defends his government over visas to Gazans

By Anadolu staff

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday defended his government issuing visas to those fleeing from Gaza and declined to respond to opposition in parliament which called for a ban on the arrivals from war-torn Gaza.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton and his party members raised the issue of arrivals from Gaza and asked Premier Albanese to share details with the parliament, according to ABC News.

However, Albanese declined to answer the opposition and said he trusted his security agencies who are always involved in the process.

"I remind the leader of the opposition that the Rafah border crossing is controlled by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities. Let's be clear about what is happening here," he said.

"Israel closed the Rafah border crossing in May. They're not letting people out," he added.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Albanese once again rejected opposition's call to ban Palestinians fleeing Gaza from entering Australia, saying it aims to "whip up fear".

Earlier, Dutton had called for a stop to migration from the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave, contending the arrival of people from a war zone to Australia was “putting national security at risk.”

However, Albanese, said the rhetoric from the coalition is causing community division at a time when security heads were calling for "social cohesion."

So far, some 2, 922 visas to fleeing Palestinians have been approved, of them 1,300 have arrived "safely" in Australia, Department of Home Affairs figures showed.

Whereas, the data showed, 7,100 visas from Palestinian territories have been rejected.

Israel has killed more than 40,100 Palestinians since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas. Israeli actions have triggered a humanitarian disaster and an ongoing genocide trial at the International Court of Justice.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid