Bill Shorten and George Brandis Join ASIO Chief In Denying the Link Between Refugees and Islamic Terrorism
Last Thursday ASIO Chief Duncan Lewis made the astonishing claim last week at Senate Estimates under questioning from Pauline Hanson that there was no link between terrorism and Islam and our refugee intake. It was frightening to ordinary Australians that our chief intelligence officer had his head in the sand about the cause of terrorism and was trotting out the politically correct line. Despite the backlash and widespread ridicule of his comments he has reiterated his initial claim on the ABC this morning stating “I don’t think statistically they would be more susceptible,” elaborating “There are without question and I don’t resile from that there are members of the former refugee or the sons and daughters of refugees who are in the group that have resorted to radicalization but I think it is very wrong to say that it is because of their refugee status … that they are where they are, they are radicalized for different reasons”. Pauline Hanson responded to Lewis’ latest remarks on twitter this morning.
ASIO boss Duncan Lewis has been forced to clarify his misleading answer to my question about Middle Eastern refugees. Good! -PH #auspol
— Pauline Hanson (@PaulineHansonOz) 31 May 2017
I never asked Mr Lewis about the refugee program. I asked about threats possibly being brought in with refugees from the Middle East -PH
— Pauline Hanson (@PaulineHansonOz) 31 May 2017
For someone not interested in religion Mr Lewis seems very interested in threats linked to extreme interpretations of Sunni Islam-PH #auspol
— Pauline Hanson (@PaulineHansonOz) 31 May 2017
Now his claims have now been backed by senior figures from both sides of politics. Bill Shorten has said today that Lewis’ denial between terrorism and refugees ”makes sense” and added “(Mr Lewis) is the expert and it seems to make sense what he is saying. Let’s not forget the tragedy today in Baghdad. This was radical Islamic criminals carrying out violence against other people of the Islamic faith”.
Federal Attorney-General George Brandis has also backed Duncan Lewis claiming that his comments were misunderstood. He told The Australian newspaper “The point he made is that Australia’s refugee program is not the source of the terrorism problem” and “Although a small number of Middle Eastern refugees have been implicated in terrorist activities, they are a tiny fraction of the many thousands of the Middle Eastern refugees Australia settles. He also told Peter van Onselen on Sky News the concern the government has with terrorism is young people who are at risk of being radicalized and carrying out lone wolf attacks. Brandis claimed Lewis was misinterpreted because it was late at night and he was tired and that Pauline Hanson was trying to entrap him. In other words it is troubled youth who are the problem, nothing to do with Islam.
With both sides of politics and the most senior bureaucrat in charge of counter-terrorism still completely in denial about link between Islam, immigration, our refugee program how can we have any confidence in our government to keep Australia safe from future attacks and prevent that spread of radical Islam in Australia?
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