Anthony Albanese dismisses immigration concerns about Islamic countries, amid surge in One Nation polling

Anthony Albanese has declared his government will “continue to work on social cohesion”, dismissing concerns there has been too much immigration to Australia from Islamic countries.

Stream Mr Albanese’s full interview with Sky News Sunday Agenda at 8am (AEDT).

The comments come as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation continues to rise in the polls with a policy that would restrict immigration from some majority muslim countries.

However, Mr Albanese rejected the premise that voters were turning to One Nation because of concerns about migration from Islamic countries.

“The Australian covenant is that if people have any prejudice or hatred, that’s left at the customs hall when they arrive in Australia,” he told Sky News Sunday Agenda.

“Overwhelmingly, Australians, regardless of what their faith is, who they are, what their background is, we overwhelmingly live in harmony in this country.

“It’s important that people in positions of authority, including politicians, promote social cohesion.

“Rather than seek to gain political benefit through opportunistically trying to divide people and trying to raise fear.

“So what we do as a government is we’ll continue to work on social cohesion, that’s one of the things that the (Bondi Beach) Royal Commission will look at as well.”

Asked whether Australia should “take less people or consider tighter checks”, Mr Albanese insisted that the existing safeguards were sufficient.

“We have tight checks. This is something that politicians shouldn’t be allowed to say things that they know isn’t true,” he said.

“Because they know full well that we have checks on migration in this country and that we have checks on visas.”

The comments come as polling shows One Nation has grown increasingly trusted by voters on immigration and national security.

According to the latest Australian Financial Review/Redbridge Group/Accent Research, 34 per cent of respondents rated One Nation as the best party on immigration.

That was compared with 16 per cent for Labor, 13 per cent for the Liberals and 4 per cent for the Nationals.

Immigration also ranked as the fifth top concern for voters, behind cost of living, healthcare and housing affordability, but ahead of crime and public safety.