There has always been close coordination between Commonwealth immigration officials and ASIO to screen out any risks to Australian security. The arrangements are calibrated according to circumstances. The record shows they have been effective.
These humanitarian rescues have involved people from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Latin America, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, numerous African countries, Kosovo and Syria. The government decision to give temporary stay to thousands of muslim Kosovars was almost exclusively driven by broad community pressure arising from media coverage of their plight. The rescued people have at times been in the country of origin, a country of first asylum next to the conflict zone or in Australia. The Royal Australian Air Force has directly rescued people from war zones in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Australia has never chosen to protect its security by excluding an entire population — men, women and children — from Australian assistance on the grounds that they are all in, or near, a war zone and dangerously suspect.
Australia has always found a way to bring in people from conflict zones By Peter Hughes, P&I