Seven members of the Iranian women's football team were granted humanitarian visas after seeking asylum in Australia following the Women's Asian Cup tournament, with five initially granted protection and two additional players and support staff joining them. The women sought asylum fearing persecution on their return home for refusing to sing the national anthem at an Asia Cup match.
Yet hours after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced these protections on Tuesday, the government introduced legislation to Parliament that aims to prevent people fleeing to Australia from places like Iran and Lebanon, even when they already hold a temporary visa allowing them to enter. The new "arrival-control determination" power would let the minister for home affairs temporarily bar travellers who already hold valid Australian visas from boarding a flight if conditions in their home country deteriorate, with the bill tabled in Parliament on 10 March 2026 as a direct response to the escalating Middle-East conflict.
Greens immigration spokesperson David Shoebridge said the government shut the door to 7,200 other Iranians who had already been granted visas and had security clearances, on the same day it gave one chance to a handful of brave Iranian women footballers. Kon Karapanagiotidis, chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said the government was acting hypocritically.
The government frames the legislation as a practical measure. Burke told reporters that it is unusual to have an event of this scale where the number of visitor visas would be so significant, noting that if someone gets a visa when their country was not a war zone, and then it becomes one, there are visas that in the current context the government would not have issued. Opposition home affairs spokesperson Jonno Duniam said the legislation would "put integrity" back into the system, fearing people who leave the region under temporary visas may want to stay permanently.
The government argues the bill provides additional tools to temporarily restrict the arrival of certain classes of temporary visa holders, stating that without legislative change, the only way to prevent travel is to individually assess whether there are grounds to cancel each visa, a process not suited to responding efficiently to international conflict where thousands of visas may be affected simultaneously.
However, refugee advocates argue the powers are too broad. The provisions would allow arrival control determinations to be made in relation to nationals of both Iran and Lebanon, effectively preventing nearly 10,000 people from entering Australia at the same time that Australia commits troops and military assets to the region. Critics contend the Bill would fundamentally undermine Australia's refugee program by giving the Minister the power to prevent people fleeing conflict zones from entering Australia.
While each determination can last up to six months, the Minister could repeatedly renew these bans, effectively preventing people in danger from entering Australia indefinitely. The government notes that the power to suspend a temporary visa will not apply if the person is a parent of a child under 18 in Australia, an immediate family member of an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or the holder of a temporary protection, refugee or humanitarian visa.
The contrast between the football team's protection and the proposed entry restrictions highlights a genuine tension in immigration policy. Allowing people already screened and vetted to enter during crises carries clear humanitarian weight, yet permitting unrestricted arrivals when conflict zones are destabilised creates real administrative and social challenges. The legislation is expected to pass the Senate with the support of the Coalition.