Raheem Kassam says Kristina Keneally put his life in danger

UK activist Raheem Kassam has condemned Kristina Keneally for trying to ban him from Australia, saying she put his life in danger.

Far-right activist Raheem Kassam says Kristina Keneally endangered his life.

British far-right political activist Raheem Kassam has lashed out at Labor frontbencher Kristina Keneally for attempting to ban him from entering Australia, saying she should be “ashamed of herself” for putting his life in danger.

Kassam, a former adviser to Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage and London editor of right-wing publication Breitbart, said today that there was nothing “Christian” or “Catholic” about Senator Keneally trying to place a ban order on him.

The outspoken activist and advocate of free speech was in Sydney addressing a Conservative Political Action Conference, a local spin-off of a platform for conservative debate that started in the US more than a decade ago.

Senator Keneally, Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman and a well-known Catholic, last week called on the Morrison government to block Kassam from entering Australia because of his alleged record of vilifying people.

Kassam received enthusiastic support from Cpac conference goers today when he blasted Senator Keneally, just hours after arriving in Australia.

“There is nothing Christian about silencing your political opposition,” he said. “There is nothing Catholic about lying about people, there is nothing God-fearing about hiding behind parliamentary privilege to besmirch me, to try to harm my livelihood, and my life, and my reputation, to put me in danger to walk down the streets of Sydney.”

If Senator Keneally had been successful in persuading the government to refuse him a visa, Kassam said, then he would have had to admit on any future occasion when entering a country that he was subject to a previous ban.

“Do you know how that can affect you in your day to day life? Do you know how many jobs you have to pass up?”

Senator Keneally claimed Kassam had a history of “vilifying” people based on their race, religion, sexuality and gender.

She urged Immigration minister David Coleman to use his powers to refuse visas on character grounds if a person was considered likely to “vilify a segment of the Australian community”, “incite discord” or “represent danger” to the community.

Kassam was allowed entry to Australia for the Cpac conference but the government last year did refuse a visa to far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, who has past links to Kassam’s political mentor Steve Bannon, the US intellectual force behind Breitbart and former adviser to Donald Trump. In February the conspiracy theorist David Icke was also refused a visa.

Kassam said today he believed the Cpac conference in Sydney — not himself — was the real target of Senator Keneally’s attempted visa ban because she wanted to silence conservative voices.

He also accused Senator Keneally and Labor Leader Anthony Albanese of “racism and bigotry” by association because they stood “shoulder to shoulder” with the British Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Kassam said Mr Corben and British Labour were “riven anti-Semitism and secretly proud of it”.

Farage is due to arrive in Sydney tonight and will address the Cpac tomorrow.