Jane Hume is asked a third time on ABC TV Breakfast if she agreed with Peter Dutton’s original comments that no Palestinians from Gaza should be coming to Australia and said:
If we cannot do the security checks to ensure that those who are fleeing Gaza are not supporters of Hamas, then we have to take a temporary pause until we can be assured of that. We must do that to keep Australians safe.
There is no suggestion security checks are not being carried out. The director-general Mike Burgess said as recently as Sunday his agency is part of the security checks being carried out. Tony Burke says the security arrangements are the same as they were under the former Coalition government, where Dutton spent much of his ministerial time as home affairs minister.
The Palestinian side of the Rafah border was seized by Israel in May and closed. No one is able to exit Gaza, except in rare cases of medical evacuation.
What we learned today – Wednesday 14 August
That is where we’ll leave the blog for the evening, but first a quick recap of the main events:
Peter Dutton said Palestinians from Gaza should not be allowed into Australia “at all”. Bill Shorten said Dutton’s Gaza comments were a “misfire” and “problem”.
CBA posted a robust profit result against the backdrop of rising household costs.
Shorten said gambling was “not the same as tobacco” amid debate of advertising bans.
Telstra and Optus announced they’re delaying the shutdown of their 3G networks to give more time for customers to switch over.
The Commonwealth Bank wound back its financing of fossil fuels in its latest climate report.
Police removed climate protesters who were carrying out a sit-in in the marble foyer of Parliament House.
Question time began with clashes over Palestinian visas.
And the NSW Liberals missed the deadline for council election nominations.
Have a lovely rest of your evening! The politics live blog will be back bright and early tomorrow morning.
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