Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government says it will offer around 10,000 Hong Kong passport holders currently living in Australia a chance to apply for permanent residence once their current visas expire. It believes China's new national security law means pro-democracy supporters may face political persecution.

"That means that many Hong Kong passport holders may be looking for other destinations to go to and hence why we have put forward our additional visa options for them," Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge said on Sunday. In order to obtain permanent residency, applicants would still have to pass "the character test, the national security test and the like," Tudge said. "If people are genuinely persecuted and they can prove that, then they can apply for one of our humanitarian visas."