Home Affairs confirm revoked Palestinian visa holder placed in detention due to character grounds

Senior Home Affairs bureaucrats have confirmed a Palestinian person who came to Australia on a visitor visa has been placed in onshore detention on character provisions.

Updated figures have revealed in the period after October 7, 2023, following Hamas’ deathly attack on largely Israeli civilians, 3041 visas were granted to holders of Palestinian travel documents, 126 of which where granted onshore.

Forty-four people also had their visas cancelled offshore, with 21 of those applications later reinstated. Fifteen of those individuals subsequently came to Australia.

After repeated questioning from Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson, Department of Home Affairs immigration compliant manager Michael Thomas confirmed one person had their visa cancelled while onshore because they failed to pass a “character test” as determined under section 501 of the Migration Act 1958.

It was later revealed this occurred after September 18.

As a result, they are being held in onshore immigration detention.

While Labor senator Murray Watt was unable to give more information on the case, he said it was “not unprecedented” and also occurred while Mr Dutton was home affairs minister.

Although Senator Paterson agreed, he said it was in the public interest to understand why the person’s visa was cancelled.

“It may well be that this person’s visa was cancelled because of something they did after they came to Australia, and if that’s the case, then no minister could be held responsible for knowing what someone would do when they got here,” he said.

“If that’s the explanation, the government should provide it.”

Senator Paterson also questioned whether the detention could trigger the High Court’s landmark NZYQ ruling that found it was illegal to detain a non-citizen whose visa cancelled or refused if there was no prospect of removing them from Australia.

Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster said it was too early to have those conversations.

“We’d be again going into details of an individual but speculating on a situation which we have not yet exhausted,” she said.

Mr Thomas would not confirm whether the detained person would be removed from Australia despite previous comments from Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stating Australia could not send Palestinian refugees back to Gaza amid the conflict.

“I won’t talk about the individual case but it will be a discussion with the person to understand which countries they do have a right of entry to and where they might wish to depart to or be returned to,” he said.

Additional figures revealed on Monday also reported that 7252 visitor visas from Palestinians were refused, with 7248 applications refused offshore.

Although four applicants had their visas rejected while onshore, these were not based on character grounds.

Another 45 migration and temporary visas were also refused, plus eight protection visas and less than five humanitarian visas.

In the period between October 7, 2023 to October 15, 2024, 1060 Palestinian document holders are also currently in Australia on bridging visas, with the majority on Bridging Visa As, given to someone who is undertaking a protection visa application.

In the same time period there have been 1132 applications for a protection visa, however seven have been granted, and eight have been refused.

It was also revealed that former home affairs minister Clare O’Neil was not formally given advice on humanitarian visas concerning Palestinians fleeing Gaza until May of this year, eight months following the October 7 attacks.