John Howard says blocking immigration from certain countries won’t stop terrorism
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 ۸۷-year-old was in Canberra last night for an hour-long chat with Australian National University national security professor Rory Medcalf before the ۲۵th anniversary of the September ۱۱ 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”.
He continued:
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”.
Key events
Good morning
Welcome to Guardian Australia’s live news coverage for Tuesday.
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Joyce says allegations against Victorian One Nation leader are ‘contested’
Barnaby Joyce was also asked about One Nation’s Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, who continues to attract scrutiny over allegations made against him by an ex-partner about alleged drug use.
Pickering said his ex-partner’s claims were false. “They are extremely hurtful and I just hope the public can see through them,” he said in a statement, according to The Australian.
Speaking to the ABC’s ۷.۳۰, Joyce said the historical allegations were “contested”.
He said he did not hear about the allegations before story was published in The Australian on Monday:
If he’s good enough to serve our nation in the defence force, as determined by our nation, then I presume he’s good enough to serve the people of Victoria.
If we’re saying that any person will be held to account for any action they ever did, no matter how far in the past it was, I would suggest there are lot of people in this parliament who will no longer have a job Monday morning.
Joyce says super plan has ‘minute’ inflationary effect
One Nation’s deputy leader, Barnaby Joyce, has defended his party’s new policy allowing renters and mortgage holders to dip into their superannuation to boost their pay, saying it will have a “minute” impact on inflation.
The superannuation industry has warned the policy – which Labor and the Coalition have said they do not support – would stoke inflation. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia chief executive, Mary Delahunty, said the proposal would be “economically disastrous” and make people poorer in retirement.
Speaking to the ABC’s ۷.۳۰ on Monday night, Joyce – the party’s Treasury spokesperson – said withdrawing your superannuation from your fund due to financial hardship was currently a “protracted” system.
Asked if the party had modelled the inflationary impact of the policy, Joyce said it would have a minimal impact but did not point to any modelling:
Now are you saying that it has no effect whatsoever? No, I wouldn’t say that but I’d say it is almost minute.
