Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley have doubled down on calls to cancel the visas of antisemitic protesters, despite the head of Australia’s spy agency warning that “inflamed language” may fuel community tensions.
The opposition leader and his deputy again called on the government to use character provisions in migration law to deport those responsible for antisemitic chants. Senior ministers urged the public to stay calm and let police do their work, and noted there was no evidence that the protesters making antisemitic comments were temporary residents.
Asked about Dutton urging visa cancellations on 2GB Radio, Ley said on Friday: “Yes, I do back those calls.”
She told Channel Seven’s Sunrise: “If you break the law, and you demonstrate and you spew forth hate speech such as we have seen and you’re on a temporary visa, which clearly violates the character that anyone should hold if they’re allowed to be [in Australia] then of course there should be serious consideration about deporting these people.”
“Australia [has] built our successful multiculturalism, it is built on a foundation of tolerance and mutual respect and when that breaks there must be consequences for those who behave in that way.”
In a rare public statement on Thursday the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation chief, Mike Burgess, said tensions in the Middle East were “resonating in the Australian community”.
He added: “It is important that all parties consider the implications for social cohesion when making public statements.” He did not name any individuals.
“As I have said previously, words matter,” Burgess said. “Asio has seen direct connections between inflamed language and inflamed community tensions.”
On Friday Dutton, who had a briefing from Burgess on Thursday, sought to explain away those remarks as having no application to him.
He told Channel Nine’s Today program that Asio and other agencies are “understandably concerned about some of the scenes you’ve seen at the Sydney Opera House and some of the activity otherwise”, adding that antisemitic language “doesn’t have any place in our country”.
“It’s been condemned absolutely and rightly – and that does incite violence, it does hit the ears of young, impressionable people who might think that they need to act in relation to that, you’ve already seen some police activity in Melbourne.
“So, I think the cuteness can be dropped. I think the language of Mr Burgess was targeted at those antisemitic views and I think he’s been very clear about that in public and in private.”
Dutton told Sky that there was “nothing controversial” in his statement that people making antisemitic comments should have their visa cancelled.
“I would be quite bewildered and amazed if the prime minister wasn’t of the same view,” he said.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said what had been chanted at protests on Monday “was absolutely abhorrent and appalling”.
“It should be condemned in the strongest possible terms, and I do that now,” he told Today.
“It is astonishing in this day and age that you would hear that language being used in our country, and obviously, from the prime minister down, we were encouraging people not to attend that rally on Monday night. For all of us, it is a deeply set of disturbing scenes.”
Asked about the proposed cancellation of visas, Marles said it was “important to let the police do their work”.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of politicians suggesting what should or shouldn’t happen in that moment.”
Marles said everyone should work to “[turn] the temperature down”.
The education minister, Jason Clare, said the prime minister had pointed out “that there’s no evidence that any of the people that made those statements are temporary residents”.
Clare told Sunrise Australia is the “best country in the world … because we’re made up of people from all around the world living here in harmony”.
“That’s being tested at the moment. … People are terrified, people are on edge here.
“We’ve got a responsibility here, as community leaders as politicians, to help to keep this together here. The Asio boss said as much on the front page of the papers.”
The Palestinian Action Group has labelled Dutton’s comments “a shocking attack on democratic rights”. “People have a right to protest against the war crimes and apartheid policies of the Israeli state.”
Neha Madhok, the national director of the racial justice organisation Democracy in Colour, said “threatening pro-Palestinian protesters with deportation” was “outrageous, [and] anti-democratic”.
“We all have the right to protest in this country, and the simple act of holding an opinion that is pro-Palestine is in no way grounds for deportation or visa cancellation.”
Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, has backed Dutton’s call, suggesting anyone on a visa who chanted antisemitic slogans or waved Islamic State flags should be deported.
