Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has demanded that foreign people implicated in violent social disturbance have their visas revoked and that they be deported.
In response to the reported stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel last Monday, a riot broke out at a church in Western Sydney. Mr. Dutton reaffirmed his belief that non-citizens who encourage violence, particularly against law officers, should have their rights to reside in Australia withdrawn.
“Because they wouldn’t issue that visa in the first place if a decision maker at the Department of Home Affairs had looked at that application for that person to come to our country and been made aware of video of that nature where that person was born,” he said to ABC’s Insiders.
Therefore, by entering this country, you agree to abide by the terms of your visa, which implies that you will conduct yourself in compliance with Australian law. If you don’t, you should reasonably anticipate having your visa revoked.
Up to 2,000 people attended the incident outside Wakeley’s Christ the Good Shepherd church when word spread of the stabbing. The mob rapidly caused a commotion and turned on the police in an effort to stop the suspected stabbing offender from being taken away from the site.
Nearly a hundred police cars were damaged, multiple officers sustained injuries, and paramedics were compelled to seek shelter within the chapel where the youngster was being detained.
It is unclear why the individuals confronted the authorities who came to help reduce the risk, but it seems that they were incensed about the police shielding the adolescent who attacked Bishop Emmanuel, a well-known member of Sydney’s Assyrian Orthodox Christian community, which incited the riot.
According to Mr. Dutton, all non-citizens involved in the mob—including those who may not have attacked police directly but were merely a part of the throng—should be deported from the nation.
The opposition leader declared, “If people have broken the law, they should face the full impact of the law, depending on the evidence available to authorities.”
To date, neither government officials nor the police have claimed that those involved in the Wakeley church violence were temporary residents or people who were born outside of Australia.
Mr. Dutton reiterated in his remarks his long-held beliefs that people with visas who pose a threat to Australia’s current state should be deported due to their unsuitable character.
Amid heightened ethnic tensions created by the Israel-Hamas war, he has reiterated the position multiple times in recent months, notably criticising individuals who publicly express anti-Semitic beliefs and engage in pro-Palestinian protests.
The opposition leader said, “People with that hate in their minds and their hearts don’t have any place in our society,” last October in response to a pro-Palestinian protest that took place outside the Sydney Opera House two days after Hamas invaded Israel.
In connection with reported attacks on officers during the Monday night altercation in Wakeley, NSW officers have made three arrests in the last week.
According to police, Strike Force Dribs, which was formed expressly to look into the disturbance, is currently going through over 600 hours of video in an effort to identify roughly 50 participants.
