Uncertainty of humanitarian visa will make traumatised new arrivals’ recovery tougher, charity founder says
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSarah Basford CanalesTue 15 Oct 2024 10.00 EDTLast modified on Tue 15 Oct 2024 17.31 EDTShareThe Albanese government’s new temporary humanitarian visa pathway for Palestinians fleeing the conflict in Gaza is a welcome first step, advocates say, but they warn the three-year option to stay is not good enough for those who have no home to return to.
Rasha Abbas, founder of the charity group Palestine Australia Relief and Action, said members of the community had been socially, financially and emotionally supporting the traumatised new arrivals who had been denied access to healthcare, housing or working rights for the past 11 months.
Meanwhile, the Greens senator David Shoebridge said delays in launching the humanitarian pathway in response to Gaza showed Labor had been “dragged into treating people with basic dignity”.
Palestinian refugees left their whole life behind. Here’s how Australia is helping them build a new oneRead moreThe Department of Home Affairs quietly published details about its temporary humanitarian stay visas last Thursday, which offer newly arrived Palestinians the possibility of a three-year visa with access to Medicare, benefit payments and working and studying rights.
More than 1,300 Palestinians have arrived in Australia on visitor visas since the conflict began on 7 October 2023.
About 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on 7 October, and a further 251 were taken hostage. More than 42,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October, according to Palestinian health authorities.
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Figures from the home affairs department show 1,033 individuals from the Palestinian Authority have already applied onshore for protection in Australia since October 2023.
The recently launched temporary humanitarian visa is only available by invitation from the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, or any delegates, but those affected by the conflict can fill out an expression of interest form to be considered.
The two-step process would see an individual being granted a subclass 449 Humanitarian Stay (Temporary) visa initially – a visa that does not grant Medicare access. Individuals would then be offered a subclass 786 Temporary (Humanitarian Concern) visa, which is valid for three years.
Abbas said it was a good first step and in line with what Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 were offered within months of arriving in the country.
With the three-year period soon finishing for some Ukrainian visa holders, the Australian government has begun offering some an offer of permanent stay in Australia.
“We hope that Palestinians will be put on a similar pathway [to Ukrainians],” Abbas said.
“These families have nowhere to go. They can’t go back to Gaza so we might as well just get on with recognising that and starting to move them to a more permanent solution.”
The department’s information page for the temporary humanitarian stay visa page warned “individuals who are offered a temporary humanitarian stay cannot meet the criteria for and be granted a protection visa, regardless of whether they have already lodged an application”.
Sarah Dale, the Refugee Advice & Casework Service director, said the centre’s decades of experience showed “people need a permanent solution in order to truly be safe”.
“We are all witness to the terror and colossal humanitarian disaster in Gaza,” Dale said.
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“The Australian government must recognise this as a refugee crisis also and do all that it can to support displaced communities.
“As a response to protection needs, our policies must stop resorting to temporary measures, which jeopardise refugees’ ability to heal. People recognised as needing Australia’s protection must be given permanent protection.”
It is understood the federal government isn’t ruling out the possibility of offering permanent visas to Palestinians after the three-year period expires.
Visas for Palestinians take median time of four months to process, despite Coalition claimsRead moreBut Shoebridge said that without guarantees the move amounted to another version of temporary protection visas – despite Labor’s opposition to the Abbott-era policy.
“If someone is found to be owed protection, then international humanitarian law says they must have permanent, not temporary, protection,” Shoebridge said.
“People should not be held to some horrific ransom by the Albanese government where they have to pick between the ability to survive for the next three years and their permanent protection claim.”
Abbas said many of the families she was working with had little experience with bureaucratic systems, such as Australia’s visa system, and the uncertainty of a temporary humanitarian visa would make their recovery tougher.
“One thing, as a backdrop, is to understand that they are coming from a system of military occupation, and there’s no democracy, there’s no visa system. This whole concept is really new,” she said.
“It is hard for those traumatised families in terms of the uncertainty. They are partly relieved because of the support that they will start getting, but, at the same time, really looking to see that the government will actually acknowledge the pain they’ve been through.”
Burke’s office was approached for comment.
Temporary Australian visas for Palestinians a first step but longer stay options needed, advocates say
