Australia’s new immigration minister, Alex Hawke, says he is considering deporting backpackers who breach Covid-19 health restrictions, but Labor has dismissed the comments as an “empty threat”.
Hawke said on Tuesday the community was “shocked” by reports temporary visa holders may have been among large crowds who gathered at Bronte beach on Christmas Day.
He said he had ordered the home affairs department to work with New South Wales police and health authorities to identify anyone who had breached their visa conditions.
“We will examine those visas and we will cancel them where necessary,” he told ABC TV.
But the opposition’s home affairs spokesperson, Kristina Keneally, said the threat looked like “yet another photo opp with no follow-up from the Morrison government”.
“Alex Hawke may have only been in the job for a few days, but he should at least be aware that his government has had enough trouble deporting a few convicted criminals, let alone hundreds of backpackers,” Keneally told Guardian Australia.
“It’s hard to see how Mr Hawke could actually carry out his threat given Department of Home Affairs bureaucrats are already overwhelmed with 300,000 people on bridging visas, 100,000 waiting for partner visas and 150,000 waiting for their citizenship application to be processed.”
Bronte beach parties... not so much social distancing going on... pic.twitter.com/3StFoCaWB8
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) December 25, 2020
Keneally said everyone in Australia should follow health directions and face the consequences if they breached them.
“But these kinds of empty threats can actually do more harm than good, and I would encourage the minister to make sure his department can actually do what he says, before making promises again in the future,” she said.
Police were called to Bronte beach in Sydney’s east late on Friday afternoon to disperse a crowd of hundreds of closely packed revellers drinking and dancing on the adjacent grass area. It remains unclear how many of them may have been on temporary visas.
Hawke told 2GB radio on Tuesday he was “shocked at the scenes” at Bronte beach.
He said there were “many options available to the department” including putting people who breached their visas into immigration detention but “we’re very happy to deport people, if people are flagrantly disobeying public health orders and risking the health and safety of Australians and our other temporary visa holders”.
“We have chartered flights to continue the normal process of immigration overseas where we return people to home countries,” he said.
In a later interview with ABC TV, Hawke said that most temporary visa holders were “doing the right thing”.
“But there is a small number of visa holders who are doing the wrong thing and, 10 months into this pandemic, that is unacceptable.”
The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, was asked at a press conference on Tuesday whether she would support deportations of temporary visa holders who breached the roles. She said it was a matter for the federal government.
“We would support whatever decision they think is appropriate,” the premier said.
