A fiery partisan clash erupted during recent Australian Senate estimates hearings, pitting Labor Foreign Minister Penny Wong against Greens Senator David Shoebridge over claims about the visa exit process for Palestinians fleeing Gaza and the West Bank. At the core of the dispute is conflicting accounts of how 415 Palestinians already approved for Australian visas navigate Israel’s exit requirements, with Wong accusing the minor party of spreading misinformation to stoke national division.
Shoebridge opened the questioning by arguing that Israeli’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) had publicly stated Palestinians seeking exit via a third-country mechanism only needed their home embassy to send a formal withdrawal request to the agency. He claimed the Australian government had failed to take this simple step to speed up departures of approved visa holders, while also reiterating the Greens’ condemnation of Israeli military operations in Gaza and the West Bank and renewing criticism of Australia’s ongoing export of F-35 fighter jet parts used in the campaign. Shoebridge further pushed the government on its failure to appoint a Palestinian ambassador, more than a year after Australia formally recognized Palestinian statehood.
Wong pushed back forcefully against Shoebridge’s claims, rejecting his framing of the process as a simple matter of sending a fax to COGAT. She emphasized that the exit process through Israeli territory is far more logistically complex, requiring precise cross-border coordination at every step, and that Shoebridge’s oversimplified claims amounted to dangerous misinformation that exploited the grief and pain of affected communities to peddle false hope. “It is wrong to assert that in an environment such as this, that a single request to COGAT is all that is required … it’s not right for you to say all you have to do is fax a form, that is not the nature of these transits,” Wong told the hearing. She added: “Really, in the context of what we have seen in this country, maybe it’s time the Greens actually tried to work to bring people together rather than divide people. You see political benefit in division, and you’re happy to use misinformation to enable that division.” Shoebridge countered that Wong had deliberately misrepresented his questions during the exchange.
Departmental officials outlined the detailed, multi-step process currently in place for facilitating departures: Australian authorities compile a verified list of approved visa holders (including Australian citizens, permanent residents, and their immediate family members), send the list by post to Australian diplomatic staff in Amman, Jordan, forward the vetted list by post to COGAT in Tel Aviv for Israeli review, and after Israel approves a departure date, coordinate with a United Nations agency or partner country for on-ground logistics, before approved Palestinians travel to Jordan and catch a flight to Australia within a 72-hour window. To date, 415 approved Palestinians have completed this process and exited to Australia.
On the question of appointing a Palestinian ambassador, senior Australian official Dr Ralph King, former Australian ambassador to Israel, outlined that Australia set clear preconditions for full diplomatic relations after recognizing Palestine last year. These require the Palestinian Authority (PA), which holds nominal control over parts of the occupied West Bank, to deliver on a series of governance and security reforms: a public commitment to recognizing Israel’s right to exist, a public call for Hamas to disarm, a commitment to hold long-delayed presidential elections (no national presidential vote has been held in the Palestinian Territories since 2005), improved governance structures, greater financial transparency, and the abolition of government payments to the families of imprisoned Palestinians and those labeled martyrs. While Dr King confirmed some progress has been made, he noted Australian authorities remain engaged in dialogue and have not yet concluded that sufficient progress has been delivered to meet the preconditions.
Wong reaffirmed the Australian government’s longstanding commitment to a two-state solution as the only viable path to lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. She acknowledged that Australia cannot singlehandedly resolve the decades-long conflict, but said the country can work to contribute to breaking the ongoing cycle of violence. “We believe that only happens through a two-state solution,” she said. “There are commitments that the Palestinian Authority has made … we are tying progress on practical implementation of recognition to progress against those commitments, including the setting up of diplomatic missions. But, we are not simply sitting and waiting. We understand that we need to do work with others to build the capacity of the Palestinian Authority for strong and credible governance, that is essential to building peace. We are working with the UK and Canada on this.” Wong also pushed back against Shoebridge’s suggestion that the government bore responsibility for delays, saying it was unfair to mislead the public by claiming a single administrative step would resolve all barriers to exit amid the ongoing conflict.