A Liberal senator has warned Australians against resorting to the deadly violence seen in Turkey to express disapproval of controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders.
Mr Wilders has been given a visa to enter Australia for the launch of an anti-Islam party, upsetting Muslim leaders who fear it will prompt more ill feeling against their community.
Senator Chris Back says Australia is a peace-loving nation and in a robust democracy people have a right to hear different views and to disagree with them vehemently.
"What we don't want to see is the sort of activity we saw in Ankara," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday, referring to the twin suicide bombings that killed 97 people at a peace rally.
A minority "simply not only disagreed ... but wanted to kill or maim them because of the views they held".
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said Australians should give Mr Wilders the same bad reception prime ministers get on grand final day.
Independent senator John Madigan said the nation should not be frightened of people with different views. "I'm not the thought police," he told reporters.
Fellow independent Nick Xenophon described Mr Wilders as an opportunist with "obnoxious" and "repugnant" views who peddled lies.
But he feared banning him from entering the country would be counter-productive.
Muslim leaders have urged the federal government to revoke Mr Wilders' visa.
