Tony Burke says Hamas sympathiser who had visa cancelled after praising October 7 attacks applied for entertainment visa

Sky News AU

2 days ago

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed that Mona Zahed, a Palestinian woman who praised Hamas' October 7 attacks against Israel was initially given an entertainment visa as opposed to a humanitarian visa.
A Palestinian woman who showered Hamas with praise for their brutal October 7 attacks on Israel had her visa cancelled by the Home Affairs Department on Friday.
Following the Coalition's call for Tony Burke to step down over the visa's approval, a Home Affairs spokesperson said on Friday afternoon "The department has advised ... that the visa was cancelled today - the reasons have been communicated directly to the applicant."
Ms Zahed also posted a photo on Instagram of Israeli festival goers fleeing for their lives on October 7 with the caption 'Praise be to Allah who has kept us alive to see this day'.
In a bizarre twist to the disturbing saga, Mr Burke told Sky News Australia's Political Editor Andrew Clenell on Sunday that the woman had initially been granted an entertainment visa by DFAT authorities, bypassing routine character checks as a result.
'This was someone from Gaza who was not going through the humanitarian visa process that we've got in place, or even for a visitor visa for that matter, but who'd applied on the entertainment stream,' Mr Burke said.
Mr Burke said the woman was not eligible to receive the visa, and that as a result her application was not immediately cancelled on character grounds.
'The presumption of that visa is you are coming for a fixed tour, where the tickets are being sold, the dates are all in place, and your intention is then to return to the country you came from,' Mr Burke said.
'This was a very unusual visa application and it was a visa she was not eligible for.
Entertainment and humanitarian visas are designed for entirely different purposes, with the entrainment visa requiring proof of skills in the entertainment industry while the humanitarian visa states for applicants to show that they are at risk of serious harm or persecution.
The entertainment visa is typically a temporary visa and valid for the duration of the specific entertainment event while the humanitarian visa usually results in permanent settlement in Australia.
Mr Burke reiterated that as soon as senior officials at Home Affairs were made aware the woman had made an 'entertainment' visa application her submission was cancelled on the spot.
'As soon as it was brought to the attention of people more senior in the department, they looked at it and thought hang on, this individual is not eligible for this particular visa,' Mr Burke said.
He said her visa was cancelled before the department could progress to the character grounds stage.
'So had we got to eligibility and then we got the character stage, there's a few things that would have had to be unpacked and worked through.'
Although about 3,000 visas across a broad stream have so far been granted to Palestinians fleeing the ongoing conflict in Gaza Mr Burke said, 'about half the people for whom visas had been issued ended up getting here.'
Mr Burke said this was due to a myriad of factors including people deciding that they did not want to flee to Australia, some people being trapped in Gaza and some of the visa recipients no longer being live.
'We're still in a situation where they are not able to leave, the borders are closed and some of them have very close family in Australia, they face real challenges and have very direct family connections,' he said.
'At least one person is longer in Australia who was brought here and the work of our security agencies in making sure we are keeping Australia safe couldn't be stronger.