Angus Taylor to call for social media checks for visa applicants under Coalition immigration policy
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The news: Federal Opposition leader Angus Taylor will unveil the initial elements of the Coalition’s immigration policy when he delivers a speech to the Menzies Research Centre in Sydney on Tuesday.
Taylor will explain key pillars of the plan, which include the introduction of social media checks on visa applications, new funding for law enforcement agencies to track down, arrest and deport non-citizens who have outstayed visas, and reassess the visas granted to Palestinians from Gaza who arrived after the 7 October 2023 attacks.
The context: The first phase of the Coalition’s immigration policy will declare that people who migrate to Australia from liberal democracies will have a “greater likelihood of subscribing to Australian values compared to those migrating from places ruled by fundamentalists, extremists and dictators”.
In the address, Taylor will say: “Australians are fed up with politically correct preaching on immigration”, and that an Enhanced Screening Coordination Centre would help to filter out “terrorist sympathisers and security risks before they come to Australia” by reviewing social media accounts.”
“As part of the enhanced screening process, all visa applicants will be required to provide social media accounts when applying for a visa”.
The screening would be applied as a standard feature of the vetting process for visas, rather than a step taken when deemed necessary.
Taylor will state “declining immigration standards have seen our door opened to too many migrants of transactional intent”.
“Australia has a non-discriminatory immigration program. We do not discriminate based on nationality, race, gender or faith. But for an immigration program to work in the national interest, it must discriminate based on values.”
The Coalition will also pledge new funding for law enforcement agencies to track down, arrest and deport non-citizens who have exhausted their legal appeals to stay in the country.
Taylor will single out Palestinian refugees from Gaza as a national security risk: “They come to our country from a society run by the barbaric Islamist terrorist organisation Hamas — an organisation that has sought to indoctrinate and radicalise their entire population to accept fanatical violence as normal, especially the genocidal slaughter of Jews.”
“In that vein, the cohort of Gazans let into Australia following the October 7 attacks presents a clear risk to our country”, Taylor will state.
The sources: ABC, news.com, SMH, The Guardian
