Bondi terrorism delivers dive in journalism standards

The Bondi attack has been cynically repurposed to advance an immigration narrative that collapses even on basic factual scrutiny, writes Dr Abul Rizvi.

IN ONE ARTICLE Australian titled Are we careful enough about who we let in? journalist Claire Lehmann He is trying to link comments I made about changes to student visa and immigration policy in 2001 to the appalling actions of the Bondi terrorists.

The older of the two terrorists reportedly came to Australia on a student visa in 1998 (three years before the student visa policy changes in 2001) and became an Australian permanent resident or permanent resident around 2000 by marrying a citizen of Italian descent. The youngest of the two terrorists was born in Australia and is an Australian citizen.

While most journalists would talk to me before quoting me in an article, Lehmann did not; that was always the sign of a hit. he used a podcast on broader immigration policy issues what i did with it joe walker.

He quotes me accurately about the 2001 changes that more clearly linked student visa policy to skilled immigration policy, driven primarily by demographic aging, skills shortages and considerations of public university funding. During the podcast, I was asked whether the policy would be put to a vote today and whether it would be supported. I said, “NO”.

This was because net migration at the time was over 500,000; This was largely due to the increase in student numbers after the Coalition accelerated student visas in 2022 and the Labor Government’s slow response to tightening student visa policy.

But student visa policy has nothing to do with security and character checks (whether we’re letting in the “wrong people”). This operates largely independently of the visa applied for through the character provisions of the Convention. Immigration Law (p501). Indeed, in 1998 I was involved in a major strengthening of the character provisions, which form the basic architecture that determines who will be accepted and who will be denied a visa in terms of character (including security). Student visa policy also has nothing to do with whether a person is at risk of radicalization. The drivers for this are quite different.

Although there have been many tweaks, the fundamental link between student visa policy and skilled migration policy has been maintained by every government and every immigration minister since the policy was introduced in 2001. Philip Ruddock. There is no government or immigration minister. Scott Morrison And Peter Dutton While they were Minister of Immigration, they suggested removing the link. Linkage is also supported by each state/territory government, which often nominates successful overseas students to address significant skills gaps in their jurisdiction.

Moreover, almost every major developed economy, including China, Japan and South Korea, has copied Australia’s approach to establishing this link (although Donald Trump continues to fluctuate on this issue).

If Lehmann thinks the connection is wrong, he should state this more clearly rather than confusing it with radicalisation, terrorism and character/security checks. The victims of the Bondi massacre deserve better than Lehmann being abused in the name of his own political ideology.

Doctor Abul Rizvi Independent Australian columnist and a former Deputy Secretary of the Immigration Service. You can follow Abul on Twitter @RizviAbul.

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