Kate Atkinson
WHAT WAS CLAIMED
3000 out of 12,500 new Australian citizens are people from Gaza.
OUR VERDICT
False. Only 23 Palestinians are among the group of new citizens, and no one who arrived from Gaza after October 2023 has been granted citizenship.
AAP FactCheck – No Palestinians who fled Gaza since the outbreak of war have been granted Australian citizenship, and only 23 Palestinians are becoming citizens in the latest ceremonies, not 3000 as claimed online.
It follows media reports that the home affairs department planned to grant 12,852 people citizenship in 25 ceremonies held across Australia between February 17 and March 4. The false claim appears in a social media post which also suggests new citizens would become Labor voters.
“12,500 new Citizens, 3000 of those the UNVETTED from Gaza, But the ALP have secured their votes for Western Sydney,” the post says. The post includes a related cartoon originally published in the Australian newspaper depicting home affairs minister Tony Burke. However, the cartoon does not make the claim.
Mr Burke attended ceremonies held in Sydney where 4511 new citizens were honoured, according to figures provided to AAP FactCheck by the department of home affairs.
Coalition politicians and some local mayors suggested the ceremonies are being conducted on an “industrial scale“ and are being “fast-tracked” ahead of a federal election that’s due before May 17.
Mr Burke said they were being held to address a “huge backlog”, and that they...
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