One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s attempts to link terrorism to Middle Eastern refugees have been crushed after Australia’s top spy chief dismissed many of her claims outright.
ASIO Director-General of Security Duncan Lewis fronted Senate Estimates late on Thursday night where he was quizzed by Senator Hanson about the security risk posed by refugees and Muslims more generally.
“Do you believe that the threat is being brought in possibly from Middle Eastern refugees that are coming out to Australia,” Senator Hanson asked him.
Mr Lewis responded: “I have absolutely no evidence to suggest there’s a connection between refugees and terrorism.”
On whether ASIO had concerns about women wearing the full burqa, he said it was not an issue for the agency.
“We have made it plain on a number of occasions … that we have no security reason to be concerned about the wearing of a burqa other than the requirement for individuals to identify themselves to authorities,” he said.
“And there are regulations in place for that.”
Senator Hanson also put to Mr Lewis that there was an increasing number of children born to refugees in Canada that are converting to radical Islam.
“Is that also happening here in Australia?” she asked him.
Mr Lewis responded: “I’m not familiar with the Canadian experience and I see no evidence of it here.”
Watch the full exchange below
The brief exchange comes amid global fears about Islamic-inspired terrorism, and only days after 22 people were killed in an attack at an Ariana Grande in Manchester.
Senator Hanson asked Mr Lewis to confirm the four terrorist attacks and 12 foiled incidents that had happened in Australia were committed by Muslims.
“And if not, who?” she said.
Mr Lewis replied: “Well, I did mention in my opening remarks that certainly of the 12 thwarted attacks, one of those, indeed, involved a right-wing extremist.
“So, the answer is no they have not all been carried out by Muslims. But I’ve got to stress, Senator, this is very important: ASIO does not make its inquiries or its assessments on the basis of somebody’s religion. We are only interested in people who are exhibiting or offering violence.
“And to the extent that there is violent extremism, which is very frequently inspired by a warped version of Sunni Islam, that’s when our interests are invoked.”
Mr Lewis declined to answer whether he believed that radicalisation could be happening in mosques, saying the question went to the agency’s operational work.
“But I do go back to my earlier answer that we’re not interested in religion. We’re interested in whether an individual is exhibiting or practicing violence,” he said.
Senator Hanson, whose party advocates a Trump-style ban on Muslim immigration, blamed Islam for terrorist attacks and “problems on our streets”.
“A lot of the problems that are actually happening in Australia is because of the increased belief in Islam,” she said.
“It’s the only religion that we have in Australia where we’ve had terrorist attacks and problems on our streets. That’s where we need ASIO and the police to try and thwart these dangers that we have and loss of life.”
She also said of terrorists: “Most of these people do follow Islam, the teachings of Islam.”
To that, Mr Lewis responded: “I can’t comment on how devout they are, Senator. I have no idea. Are they violent? Yes.”
In 2015, he called for Australians to be “temperate”, arguing that a backlash against Muslims would pose a threat to national security.