Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has defended the country’s security agencies amid questions about the granting of a visa to a Palestinian man with alleged links to Hamas figures.

Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan used federal parliament’s Question Time to raise a Daily Telegraph report claiming the man was granted a visa, despite previously hosting political members of Hamas at an art institute.

According to the newspaper, Fayez Elhasani came to Australia after his wife, grandchildren and other members of his family were killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza following the October 7 Hamas terror attacks.

Mr Burke told federal parliament he had confidence in existing security processes.

“Our security agencies work through the evidence that they have,” Mr Burke said.

“They never stop collecting information, even after people are here, they never stop collecting information, and this government stands with full confidence in our security agencies.”

The ABC has viewed three social media posts, purportedly posted by Mr Elhasani or associated organisations, that remain online at the time of publication.

One of the posts includes vision of rockets being fired into the air, with a caption that Google translates as: “O people of Gaza, glorify God. What a blessed jihad is. The Palestinian resistance continues to respond and repel the brutal aggression.”

Another post shows a soldier standing on an Israeli flag with a caption that Google translates as: “Jerusalem has one flag raised in it. Flag of Palestine.”

A third post suggests Mr Elhasani’s art institute hosted a political meeting in 2019 that was attended by political leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which are both listed as terror organisations in Australia. 

In 2006, Hamas won legislative elections in Gaza. 

No visas cancelled onshore

The Coalition repeatedly quizzed Mr Burke about Mr Elhasani and other visa holders who have travelled to Australia from Gaza since October 7.

Mr Burke said no visas had been cancelled since he last updated parliament and that all cancellations had been of people yet to enter the country.

He said there was a regular process for visa approvals, and every single applicant was checked against a “movement alert list” that is updated every 24 hours.

Mr Burke said every visa holder coming from Gaza was referred to ASIO in March. All visa holders were also rechecked by ASIO in September. 

He said if any red flags were raised the government would follow that advice, but it would not “abandon our security agencies and defer instead to Google searches from the opposition”.

Speaking on Sky News, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisted he had “confidence” in Australia’s domestic security agency ASIO. He said if the Coalition didn’t have confidence in ASIO then it should say so.