Religion, race have no role in immigration

A push to ban Muslim immigrants is dangerous, says the race discrimination commissioner.

Australia's race discrimination commissioner says it's "dangerous" for politicians to consider the idea of limiting immigration based on race or religion.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation took to last year's election a policy to ban immigrants with a Muslim background.

The case for such a ban has also gained attention after the Trump administration imposed travel bans on seven countries.

Tim Soutphommasane told a Senate hearing on Tuesday he had no problem with there being a responsible debate about the level of immigration.

"By all means there are legitimate questions to be asked about the level of immigration, but we can conduct that debate within the values of non-discrimination," he said.

"I believe it can be very dangerous to entertain the idea that we can use race or religion as a criterion for admitting people as immigrants to Australia."


Share

1 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Watch now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world