Turnbull accuses Hanson of playing into terrorists’ hands

Malcolm Turnbull has accused Pauline Hanson of doing “exactly what the terrorists want” by calling for a ban on Muslim immigration.

The Queensland senator came in for heavy criticism on Friday after she told Australians to #Pray4MuslimBan – instead of the popular #Pray4London hashtag that was circulating social media – and called Islam a virus Australia needed to be vaccinated against, in the wake of Thursday’s terror attack on London’s Houses of Parliament.

Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne pointed out that such a move would not reduce terror risks because many of the people on the watch list in were Australian citizens, while deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce called Hanson’s policies “bat-poo crazy”, saying, “This kind of stuff does not help anybody.”

But the prime minister told 3AQ’s Neil Mitchell on Friday that Hanson’s call for a crackdown on all Muslims did help someone: terrorists.

“If the problem is terrorism, policies like that would only make it worse,” he said.  “Demonising the Muslim community, or attributing to all Muslims responsibility for the crimes of a tiny percentage, is exactly what the terrorists want.”

“The objective of the terrorist is to get the broader society to turn on Muslims at large … Their recruiting message to Muslims and Australian Muslims is to say ‘this country doesn’t really want you, you’re not really Australian, they all hate you’,” he added.

He added that inciting hatred about any part of the Australian community was dangerous, and that he’d spoken directly to Hanson about his concerns that she was inadvertently helping terrorists to convince Australian Muslims of their views.

Do you think Malcolm Turnbull is right about this? Or do you agree with Pauline Hanson’s views?