The former prime minister John Howard has warned political parties against banning migration from certain countries as the debate over Australia’s immigration settings continues. The 87-year-old was in Canberra last night for an hour-long chat with Australian National University national security professor Rory Medcalf before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US. The discussion began with last year’s alleged terrorist attack in Bondi, before turning to whether immigration settings can prevent potential terrorists from entering the country.
Howard said the “law of averages” meant some people with nefarious intentions could enter the country but he did not believe the “evidence is overwhelming”. But I think the mood is overwhelming that we have to try very hard to stop terrorism creeping in under the cover of immigration, and you can’t do it by just stopping immigration, and it’s very hard to do it by stopping categories of immigration. When some people say you stop it by saying ‘we won’t take migrants from any country that has got a reputation for terrorism’, well, it might be a lot more limiting than those people imagine.
Neither major political party has proposed a country-wide ban on specific countries for permanent migration. One Nation has said it would like to see country-wide migration bans on people coming from countries the foreign affairs department has listed as “do not travel”.
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