Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's an absolute priority of government to ensure the safety of its citizens, and, as the Director-General of Security, Mike Burgess, has made clear, the lower the social cohesion the higher the risk to safety.

One of the first decisions of President Donald Trump in 2017 was a blanket ban on refugees from seven countries that he described as 'a source of radical Islamic terror' from entering the US. More than 60,000 visas were revoked, and protests erupted at airports across the country. I was at Chicago airport that week as a reporter, amid chaos and confusion as people with green cards returned home from holidays or business trips and were detained and prevented from re-entering the US. Recently the former president has threatened to restore the ban, which was shelved by the Biden administration, and include individuals from Gaza, saying:

We aren't bringing in anyone from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security.

He also said, 'Under no circumstances should we bring thousands of refugees from Hamas controlled terrorist areas like Gaza to America.'

Entrants to Australia require rigorous and fair sensitive assessment. If we are to restore social cohesion, all of us must watch our words and not adopt the politics of hate.