Opposition leader Peter Dutton has called for a debate on Australia’s migration system after Daily Mail Australia revealed that one of the nurses involved in a vile anti-Semitic tirade was granted Australian citizenship four years ago.
Bankstown Hospital employees Ahmad ‘Rashad’ Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh – appeared on an online video chat app which was recorded by Israeli social media influencer Max Veifer.
‘It’s Palestine’s country, not your country you piece of s***,’ Abu Lebdeh said in the video which went viral on Wednesday.
‘One day your time will come and you will die the most horrible death.’
‘You have no idea how many (Israelis) came to this hospital and I sent them to Jehannam (hell),’ Nadir said, while making a throat-slitting gesture.
Nadir, 27, was born in Afghanistan but fled to Australia with his family at the age of 12 after his father was killed.
He and his mother crossed Asia before risking their lives on a boat bound for Australia, and he gained Australian citizenship four years ago.
‘After spending four nights and five days, we reached international waters, and the Australian Navy rescued us and took us on board,’ he said in an interview three years ago.
Footage released by a Jewish influencer from a public video chat forum showed two people in NSW Health uniforms hurling insults at Jews and claiming they wouldn’t treat them
He revealed how his family were taken to Christmas Island and Darwin after being plucked to safety at sea before eventually settling in Sydney.
Mr Dutton condemned his comments and indicated support for stripping Nadir of his citizenship after Australia had given him a fresh start.
‘It’s an outrage and we’ve got big problems in this country when somebody like that can become an Australian citizen,’ Mr Dutton told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
He said that under current rules, it was nearly impossible to quash someone’s citizenship, but he called for a system overhaul to make it possible.
‘To take citizenship or strip citizenship from somebody, there are constitutional constraints, and at some stage, our country has to have a discussion, I think, about the way in which the whole migration system works.
‘I think it’s a conversation for our country at some point, maybe sooner than later, about how we can say to these people, if you don’t share our values, if you’re here and you’re enjoying the welfare system and you’re enjoying free health and free education, then at the same time you hate our country?
‘There’s a provision under the Migration Act, without having it in front of me, that if somebody has made a false declaration, there is the ability in that circumstance.
‘There is the ability to revoke, say, somebody who’s committed a terrorist attack – but even that is limited – and there was a High Court case in the last 12 months, the last couple of years, where that really restricted the ability of the government to be able to strip somebody of their citizenship. So there are constitutional constraints.
‘As I say, I think it’s a conversation for our country at some point, maybe sooner than later, about how we can say to these people, “if you don’t share our values, if you’re here and you’re enjoying the welfare system and you’re enjoying free health and free education, then at the same time you hate our country, well, I don’t think you’ve got a place here”.
‘So, I think there is a time for a public debate about the inadequacies of the system that we’ve got at the moment and how we can address it.’
Mr Dutton’s comments come amid growing calls on social media for Nadir’s citizenship to be quashed.
‘He doesn’t deserve to live in our beautiful country – deport immediately,’ one said.
A second added: ‘Strip him of his citizenship and deport immediately.’
