Topics: Palestinian visa holder detained; PMO obfuscates again on Qatar decision; US-Australia relationship;
07:45AM AEDT
5 November 2024
Kenny Heatley: Welcome back. Thanks for being here. A senior home affairs bureaucrat has confirmed a Palestinian visa holder’s application has been revoked on character grounds, and he has been placed in onshore detention. The Opposition is questioning whether the detention could trigger the High Court’s landmark NZYQ ruling that found it was illegal to detain a non-citizen whose visa is cancelled or refused, if there was no prospect of removing them from Australia. Joining me live is Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham. Simon, thanks for your time this morning. So, Immigration Minister Tony Burke has previously said that you couldn’t send refugees back to the war zone in Gaza. So, what are you doing in this situation?
Simon Birmingham: Good morning. Well, this is where the government needs to be transparent about a number of things. There is, of course, how they will handle this case going forward and what the risks in relation to the handling of it are, including the risks of somebody being released or otherwise into the community, but also, they need to be clear about the circumstances and nature of the visa cancellation. Was this a discovery that the visa should not have been issued in the first place, and that, in fact, the checks that we believe have been rushed in too many instances were rushed and did fail on this occasion. In which case the Albanese Government needs to be honest about yet another mistake in its migration management. Or were they new discoveries of something that occurred after the individual came to Australia, in which case they need to also be clear. What type of threat might this have presented to the Australian people that brought about the cancellation?
Kenny Heatley: In Senate estimates yesterday, you grilled officials from the Prime Minister’s Office over the Qatar Airways decision. How did you go? Did you get any straight answers?
Simon Birmingham: In short, no we didn’t. And it’s a shocking indictment on Anthony Albanese that he has senior officials from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and his own office all engaged in every different bit of linguistic gymnastics to cover up and avoid saying what role he or his office had in rejecting Qatar’s application for more flights to Australia. And this really comes down to how the Prime Minister is influenced and uses his influence in government on things that affect Australians. This isn’t just about Qatar Airways, it’s about whether Australians get real competition in their aviation market, cheaper fares when they’re looking to fly, more access to freight routes for our businesses. These are the things that are actually at stake here. And the Prime Minister intervened in a process where the Virgin CEO indicated that she’d been told by the transport minister it would be assessed and likely approved within days. And then instead, it took months and got rejected. How did the transport minister come to change her timeline and likely change her mind? And what role did the Prime Minister have in it? And why is it that his officials cannot give a straight answer about that?
Kenny Heatley: It’s US election eve. If we see violence in the US, if Donald Trump loses the election, what should Australia’s response be, if anything?
Simon Birmingham: We always urge, whether it’s the US or any other democracy around the world, a peaceful transition of power. I think we do need to keep perspective. Through, I hear some of the commentary about how deeply divided the US is in this election, and clearly there are very strong and passionately held views on both sides. But the US has seen enormous test and strain before. You can go back to 1968 when we had rallies and of course, huge divisions over Vietnam, and we saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and of Bobby Kennedy. They were deeply divisive times and deeply troubling times, but the US system has been able to withstand that and is bigger than all of those pressures and challenges. And we trust that that system will work through this. We hope to see an election outcome that is respected by all sides, and that does see a peaceful transition of power from President Biden to either a new president Harris or a returned president Trump.
Kenny Heatley: Simon Birmingham, appreciate your time.
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