The Greens senator David Shoebridge said the process had been too slow.
Unlike other visas processes, Palestinian and Israeli nationals fleeing the conflict cannot apply for the temporary humanitarian visa. It is only available by invitation of the home affairs minister.
Shoebridge said Australia needed to overhaul its visa rules in responding to international crises to avoid the process being impacted by “narrow political interests”.
“We need to return this to the department to process visas independently, not based on the next opinion poll,” he said.
“After years of ad hoc refugee responses to rolling disasters in Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Palestine, it is clear we need a simpler and predictable policy in place for future crises. This disaster-by-disaster approach only benefits the minister at the time, who can wield discretionary visas powers based on narrow political interests.”