Senior Liberal Christopher Pyne says Australians have been "nervous" about Islamic terrorism long before Pauline Hanson's return to parliament.
Mr Pyne says he understands people's concerns after a poll showed almost half of voters want to ban Muslim immigration, blaming terror groups like Islamic State who make threats against the West.
"They have been nervous for some time, not just since the arrival of One Nation back in the national parliament," he told the Nine Network on Friday.
Labor frontbencher Richard Marles hit back, blaming comments by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton for the poll result.
Mr Dutton came under fire during the election campaign for claiming "illiterate and innumerate" refugees would swamp welfare queues and take the jobs of locals if the annual humanitarian intake was substantially increased.
"If you want to give people a sense of confidence about our multicultural society we've got to see leadership from our government," Mr Marles said.
He was then accused of not being bipartisan on national security.
"We are talking about people feeling safe at home and so far that's always been a policy which Labor and Liberal have been able to agree on," Mr Pyne said.
