TRANSCRIPT - Sky News Newsday with Kieran Gilbert

PAUL FLETCHER MP

Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

TRANSCRIPT

SKY NEWS NEWSDAY

22 August 2024

Kieran Gilbert: Let's bring in now the Manager of Opposition Business, Paul Fletcher. Thanks for your time. Is the focus again from you on the national security questions when parliament comes around when Question Time kicks off?

Paul Fletcher: We've been asking a series of questions, Kieran, in Question Time about the nearly 3,000 tourist visas issued to people in the terrorist controlled Gaza war zone. Some 1,300 people have already arrived in Australia and we've been asking questions about what was the process? Were there security assessments? Now, the Prime Minister last week, gravely misquoted the Director General of ASIO to give the impression that every applicant had been the subject of security assessment.

We know that's not true and we've asked a whole series of questions on these important issues. The Prime Minister has ducked and weaved and failed to give clear answers. So we'll be asking more about it, we will.

Kieran Gilbert: Labor says that the former Home Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton allowed several hundred, if not thousands of visitor visas to refugees out of that same area, Hamas controlled Gaza.

Paul Fletcher: What we've seen from the Prime Minister and Labor is a refusal to answer even the most basic questions about was there an automated process used instead of face-to-face interviews? Was there biometric testing done? Now, as Peter Dutton has said when he was Home Affairs Minister, the process to bring in, for example, a substantial number of people from Syria, people fleeing the vicious Syrian civil war, certainly Australia brought in a significant number of people but before they came, we made sure that the proper assessments were done and if necessary, people were moved to a third country so that proper assessments could be made. 

Kieran Gilbert: The Government says the same visa, the same visa category was used for refugees under the former government?

Paul Fletcher: The Prime Minister claims that the processes that his government is using are the same as the processes used by the previous government. That is not true and that is one of the reasons why we've been asking a series of questions about this.

Why is it that comparable countries like the United States or New Zealand have issued, in the case of the United States, I think it's less than 20 visas. In the case of New Zealand, around 150. Australia has issued nearly 3000. Why are we so out of step with our peer countries?

Kieran Gilbert: And rejected more than 7000 at the same time?

Paul Fletcher: Well, it doesn't change the fact that we've issued a lot more than the countries against which we would normally benchmark Australia.

Kieran Gilbert: How many have they allowed in from Israel, though? Because Australia's accepted more than 5000 from Israel.

Paul Fletcher: But let's be clear. Gaza is controlled by a listed terrorist organisation. There are a set of security issues which flow from that. Of course, there are plenty of people in Gaza who are innocent citizens, but it would be naive in the extreme not to think that it is necessary to go through a careful security assessment rather than saying, oh well, we'll give you a tourist visa within an hour without doing any of those assessments. Because there is a very real risk that we end up with people in Australia who are Hamas sympathisers and supporters.

Now, of course, there are plenty of Palestinian civilians, people who are innocent, people caught in a difficult situation but let's not abandon all of the normal standard processes and put Australia's security and safety at risk.

Kieran Gilbert: Can I ask you a question about the parliamentary standards measures the government introduced to parliament yesterday? What's your position? And will the Coalition support this move to boost and improve standards in the parliament?

Paul Fletcher: Well the first point is, this is a process which emerges from the Jenkins Review, which we commissioned when in government, because of the importance of having systems and processes in place so that Parliament House is a safe workplace. 

You know, there's more than 4000 people who work in this building, a small proportion of them are the show pony politicians who turn up in the media but there's many, many, many more people who work in this building, and everybody's entitled to a safe workplace. So that's why we initiated the Jenkins Review, when in government, we acted to implement many of its recommendations and Coalition MP's have been participants in the steering committee process. I don't think that's the exact term, but that's probably what it's been in relation to the legislation, in relation to this authority. 

Now we have the legislation in front of us, of course we'll study the detail, but that is the basis on which we approach it. 

Kieran Gilbert: So it’s starting from a positive outlook if you've been part of it from the get go. Thank you, Paul Fletcher. We appreciate your time, as always.

Paul Fletcher: Thank you.