The Australian government is facing allegations of hypocrisy after it proposed a new law banning entry for ordinary Iranians while granting humanitarian visas to footballers from the country.
The Migration Amendment Bill 2026 was proposed the same day that home minister Tony Burke confirmed the visas for around half a dozen Iranian female footballers.
Mr Burke claimed that the decision to allow several members of the Iranian women’s national team to stay was driven by concerns for their safety after they had declined to sing their nation’s anthem before a match at the Asian Cup.
The proposed law allows ministers to bar people from certain countries from travelling to Australia on temporary visas.
While the bill does not name the countries, critics say it’s likely to disproportionately impact people fleeing the US-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon.
The bill allows the home minister to issue what is known as an “arrival control determination”. If invoked, it freezes temporary visas held by people from specified countries before they arrive in Australia, stopping them from entering the country for up to six months.
A temporary visa enables the holder to travel to Australia for tourism, study, business, or a sporting event, and stay for a period ranging from a month to five years.
Officials say the measure is intended to prevent people from using such visas to remain in Australia if conditions in their home countries change dramatically.
Assistant citizenship minister Julian Hill said international events could quickly affect whether visa holders would leave once their authorised stay ended.
“The current situation in the Middle East demonstrates how quickly circumstances can change that may impact whether those temporary visa holders could fulfil that temporary purpose in Australia, including whether they would leave Australia,” he told the parliament.
“In these circumstances, it’s vital that government can respond appropriately, including by placing temporary limitations on the ability of certain cohorts of non-citizens from travelling to Australia.”
The home minister’s “arrival control determination” would require support from the prime minister and the foreign minister. It would apply only to people outside Australia and could be renewed after expiry.
Parents with a child in Australia, people with immediate family members who are Australian citizens or residents, and those already holding refugee, humanitarian or temporary protection visas would be exempt.
The government did not name any countries in the legislation. However, ministers pointed to instability in the Middle East when discussing the proposal.
Mr Burke said nearly 7,000 Iranian citizens holding visitor visas were not in Australia. “While we do have a conflict, it’s unusual to have an event of this scale where the number of visitor visas would be so significant,” he said.
The minister said that the government already had the power to cancel individual visas but doing so case-by-case was impractical.
“I want the decisions about who comes here permanently to be deliberate decisions made by the Australian government,” he said, “not an accident of who was coming here for a holiday, and then there was a change in global circumstances.”
“If you get a visa at a time that your country was not a war zone, and then it becomes a war zone, there are visas out there that, in the current context, we would not have issued.”
Officials say about 61,000 people from Middle Eastern countries currently hold temporary travel visas to Australia.
The new bill, introduced 10 days after the war on Iran began, was expected to pass the House of Representatives with backing from the opposition coalition before undergoing examination by a Senate inquiry.
The bill, however, drew immediate criticism from other opposition parties and refugee advocates who said it could close off legal pathways for people seeking protection. Larissa Waters, leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate, called it a “new low”.
“What an appalling act of cruelty,” she said, according to the ABC. “From backing and resourcing an illegal war raining down bombs on civilians, to then shutting the door on those same civilians who have the legal right to enter our country. You can’t get more morally bankrupt or hypocritical than that.”
Greens immigration spokesman David Shoebridge said the “hypocrisy” was “hard to stomach”.
“On the same day Labor was trumpeting their granting a handful of brave Iranian football players protection,” he said, “they are trying to slam the door shut on any other Iranian seeking the same protection.”
Refugee organisations also criticised the bill. Kon Karapanagiotidis, chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said the proposed measure would allow authorities to block people who already held valid visas. “Australia and the US are sending our military to the Middle East to liberate the people of Iran and, at the same time, they are legislating so they can shut the door to those same people who need our protection – and who already have a visa to travel to Australia,” he said.
“If people already have a visa to travel to Australia, and this kind of violence has broken out in their home country, why would we not want to help them? On the very same day that the government has acted so swiftly and compassionately to protect members of the Iranian women’s soccer team, they want to slam the door on family members of Australian citizens,” Mr Karapanagiotidis added. “The Albanese government’s actions today send a disturbing message about who’s worthy of protection and who is not.”
Human rights groups warned the new law could affect asylum seekers who might otherwise travel on temporary visas before seeking protection, particularly as other routes were already restricted by policies such as offshore detention for people arriving by boat.
The football team at the centre of the dispute arrived in Australia last month for the Women’s Asian Cup, before the war began. Five players were granted humanitarian visas on Tuesday amid fears for their safety after they refused to sing the Iranian anthem before their match.
After the tournament ended, the squad faced the prospect of returning to a country under bombardment.
Public demonstrations occurred outside the team’s hotel as supporters tried to delay their departure while urging authorities to offer protection.
Some protesters chanted “Save our girls” and “Please act now”.
The asylum offer was extended to the entire squad of 26 players and support staff, although the minister didn’t confirm how many ultimately chose to remain in Australia. Some members of the delegation later flew out to Malaysia on their way home to Iran.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said the footballers given protection would be safe in the country.
“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women,” he said. “They’re safe here and they should feel at home here.”
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