By Tess Ikonomou in Canberra

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been criticised for comments supporting a ban on Palestinians fleeing war-torn Gaza being granted visas into Australia.

Mr Dutton said there was uncertainty about the identity or the allegiances of Gazans with Hamas, which carried out a terrorist attack against Israel, remaining in power.

“I don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment. It’s not prudent to do so and I think it puts our national security at risk,” Mr Dutton told Sky News on Wednesday.

Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni called the comments “another glaring example of the abhorrent and increasingly normalised brand of racist politicking designed to stir up fear and hatred against the Palestinian people”.

“Peter Dutton’s stoking of racist stereotypes, under the guise of national security, is to be condemned in the strongest possible terms by all elected representatives,” he told AAP.

“Australia rightly supported Ukrainians to flee Russia’s invasion. We are morally obliged to offer the same levels of support, compassion and care to Palestinians fleeing Israel’s genocide.”

Independent senator David Pocock said the opposition leader’s comments would “only exacerbate the tension on our social cohesion and are completely inconsistent with the advice of ASIO head Mike Burgess”.

“The continuing, extreme, state-perpetrated violence, starvation and killing of civilians and hostages in Gaza is completely horrific,” he told AAP.

“Australia needs to be doing more, not less, to support people seeking to flee one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of our time,” Senator Pocock said.

“It is completely hypocritical for the coalition to support additional humanitarian visas for people fleeing conflict in Afghanistan and Ukraine but not Gaza.”

Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash rejected hypocrisy over the coalition government helping people flee Afghanistan when the Taliban took over.

“We were ensuring at all times that the appropriate visa checks were being undertaken,” she said.

“You always want to look after those coming from war-torn nations, however you also need to take into account the circumstances of the war-torn nation.”

ASIO head Mike Burgess and home affairs department officials have repeatedly stated appropriate security checks were conducted for visa applicants.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government had taken advice from Mr Burgess and intelligence agencies.

“Not from someone always looking for a fight, always looking for division,” he told ABC News.

The fight came on the same day the Palestine network and the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network released a report that found “an alarming pattern of racist, hateful and dehumanising conduct and commentary directed at Palestinians, Muslims and their allies”.

It analysed comments and posts within an Australian Zionist and pro-Israeli Facebook group between November 2023 and March 2024.

About 1200 Israelis were killed when Hamas launched its October 7 attack and almost 40,000 Palestinians have been killed due to Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza.

The Australian government has called for a ceasefire plan to be adopted as the death toll mounts and the humanitarian situation worsens.