ASIO boss breaks silence on Gaza visa debacle

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has broken his silence on the row over visa vetting processes for Palestinians fleeing Gaza, saying “people have chosen to distort” his words.

Mr Burgess, who was appointed by the previous Coalition government, said in August that “rhetorical support” for Hamas was not necessarily a deal breaker for granting visas but ruled out anyone with “an ideology or support for a violent extremism ideology”.

Since then, the intelligence boss’s name has been invoked numerous times in the opposition’s relentless barrage of statements and questions framing the Albanese government as weak on national security.

“I’ve watched with interest over the last couple of weeks how people have chosen to distort what I said,” he told the ABC.

“I said that if you support a Palestinian homeland that may not discount you (from entering Australia) because that by itself is not a problem.

“But I also said if you have a violent extremist ideology, or you provide material or financial support to a terrorist organisation, that will be a problem.”

Shortly after Mr Burgess’ original comments, Coalition MPs wrote a letter to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke requesting he tighten visa vetting for applicants from Gaza to ensure they held no rhetorical support for Hamas.

But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton went a step further, demanding all visa applications from Gaza be refused, claiming people fleeing the war could pose a threat to Australia’s national security.

Subsequently, despite a packed legislative agenda, Gaza visas dominated the first sitting fortnight since the parliamentary winter break, with the opposition pitching question after question on vetting processes.

Though, the opposition was, in most cases, careful not to impugn Mr Burgess.

It instead pointed to policy settings, even though they remained the same as under the former Coalition government.

In his latest remarks to the ABC, Mr Burgess made clear there was no softening on his agency’s security vetting.

“If you think terrorism is OK, if you think the destruction of the State of Israel is OK, if you think Hamas and what they did on the 7th of October is OK, I can tell you that is not OK, and from an ASIO security assessment point of view, you will not pass muster,” he said.

“We focus on: Are you a threat to security, a direct or indirect threat to security? And if we find you such, we will do an adverse security assessment, which would result in you not getting a visa, most likely.”

The opposition’s immigration spokesman Dan Tehan told Sky News the Coalition was “satisfied” with the ASIO boss’s clarification.