The opposition is focusing on Gazan visas to chip away at Labor’s national security credentials – but do voters even care while hip pocket pain remains acute?
, it is worth keeping in mind that the government never formally set out to offer safe haven for Gazans.
In contrast, when the Abbott government agreed in 2015 to resettle 12,000 Syrians to escape Islamic State, there was a detailed policy process, including costings, overseen by cabinet’s national security committee before a formal announcement. Interviews were conducted in Jordan before people were granted a visa.
More than 7100 visa applications from Palestinians have been rejected over the same period. The government is yet to provide a breakdown of reasons for rejection, although Palestine’s top local diplomat in Australia, Izzat Abdulhadi, says it is because of Australia’s “highly restrictive visa policies”, not security concerns. One suspicion is that most are being rejected because of the risk of overstaying.
While Labor kept offshore processing and boat turnarounds as part of Operation Sovereign Borders, it has abolished TPVs, the only sop to its pro-refugee left-wing activists. Now 30,000 to 34,000 people are packed into each square kilometre, compared to an estimated 1200 people per square kilometre before October 2023.The drawn-out conflict now sees the Albanese government scrambling to plan for the Palestinians to stay. An announcement had been imminent, but it seems the sensitivity over the issue has put it on hold.
“Every single question was on the Middle East and not one single question was on middle Australia,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers pointed out during Tuesday’s question time. He could have said the same thing about the past six sitting days.not a single voter had raised the Palestinian visas issue with him during his time in the electorate on Friday and last weekend. “Every day are talking about it is a day they are not kicking us about cost of living.
Focus groups representative of battleground outer suburban seats – think Lindsay and Werriwa in western Sydney, or La Trobe and Dunkley on Melbourne’s fringe – show the issue is not moving swing voters. “These are people in their early 30s and their 20s, particularly women. Young professionals. The position Dutton has reminds those individuals who stopped voting for the Liberal Party in 2022 why they made that decision.“It is making the task of holding down seats like Menzies and Deakin harder, and winning back the teal seats a lot harder.
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