Peter Dutton defends decision to let Raheem Kassam enter Australia

Peter Dutton calls out Labor for trying to shut down public debate over Raheem Kassam.

Raheem Kassam ran for the United Kingdom Independence Party

Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton has called out Labor for trying to shut down public debate after Senator Kristina Keneally argued for far-right British activist Raheem Kassam to be banned from entering Australia.

Speaking on Nine’s Today show with Labor leader Anthony Albanese this morning, Mr Dutton downplayed concerns surrounding the former Breitbart UK editor, who is attending a conservative conference in Sydney next week.

Mr Dutton argued that Australia was a country that embraced free speech and as long as debate was civil it was important to have a variety of views.

“I think people have a right in our country that they can express their views - you can argue against it if you like - but people can conduct a civil debate,” Mr Dutton said.

Mr Kassam is set to appear alongside his former boss, ex-UKIP chief Nigel Farage and former prime minister Tony Abbott at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Mr Dutton argued Britain’s Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn had also voiced “radical views” in the past and it was a “slippery path” if politically incorrect views were not allowed to be expressed.

But Mr Albanese argued that while Australians had a right to “free speech”, Kassam had previously made reprehensible comments and he was concerned extreme views were “being made mainstream” by some members of the LIberal party.

“This is a very strange conference to be holding,” Mr Albanese said. “And the government is legitimising some of these hard-right views by having government members on the same platform.”

He also called out the government for being “inconsistent” when it came to banning extremist speakers, having blocked far-right celebrity Milo Yiannopoulos from entering Australia earlier this year.

“What we need is more unity and more cohesiveness as a nation,” Mr Albanese said.

But the Home Affairs minister argued that Kassam was only in the spotlight because a Labor frontbencher had bought him into prominence.

Kassam ban ‘pointless’

Former deputy prime minister John Anderson has taken aim at the “counter-productive” campaign from Anthony Albanese to ban right-wing British campaigner Raheem Kassam from entering Australia, warning it was an attempt to “platform deny”.

Mr Anderson told The Australian yesterday that banning Mr Kassam would achieve ­nothing, noting that Mr Albanese had been happy to meet British ­Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn whom Mr Anderson said had promoted views he found to be “abhorrent”.

“Mr Albanese may find (Mr Kassam’s) views and his way of expressing things inappropriate. I find Mr Corbyn’s views on many subjects inappropriate. But in both cases I’d say frankly, let the sun shine in,” Mr Anderson said.

“The solution to these sorts of disagreements is to talk more, not less … I think it would be counter-productive — it nearly always is — to platform deny.”

Mr Kassam, the former editor for the London bureau of Breitbart News, is speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Sydney next week, with Mr Anderson also scheduled to address the event with former prime minister Tony Abbott.

The conference has become a hot political issue after Mr Albanese and his home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally accused Mr Kassam of “hate speech” and labelled him an ­“extremist”, drawing attention to his more controversial tweets — some involving major political figures — for which he has been accused of racism, sexism and homophobia.

The US President’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, also weighed into the debate, ­accusing the Labor Party of trying to stifle conservative voices just weeks before Scott Morrison is due to sit down with his father at the White House for an official state visit.

“We have Big Tech constantly trying to silence conservatives and now one of the major political parties in Australia is trying to silence @RaheemKassam because of his conservative views. The insanity needs to stop!” he tweeted.

A host of major global conservative names including top Trump fundraiser Matt Schlapp, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage are also scheduled to speak at the conference.

“I actually think that we all have to learn how to talk to one another again respectfully or we will never be able to negotiate our way out of the mess — the cultural and economic mess — that the West is in,” Mr Anderson said.

“I don’t condone incivility. And incivility and a lack of respect are in fact huge contributors to the mess we are in and the inability to get out of it.

“But I would very gently say to Mr Albanese that he’s been happy to talk to Mr Corbyn who people like me find abhorrent, not least of all for his anti-Semitism.”

Mr Albanese yesterday dismissed the Trump family’s support for Mr Kassam and said Australians should decide whether he was a fit person to enter the country.

“That’s a matter for them, frankly. They make their own judgments,” Mr Albanese told Sky News.

“The Australian people understand that it’s up to us to ­determine what is respectful ­debate … This is someone who is an extremist. And we make no apologies for Kristina Keneally’s calls that we should be blocking this person from entering Australia.”

Conference organiser Andrew Cooper said his conference had sold more than 200 tickets since Senator Keneally first called for Mr Kassam to be banned.

“We are 85 per cent sold out now and we’ll definitely run out of tickets now,” Mr Cooper said.

“I owe a big shout out to Kristina Keneally and now ­Anthony ­Albanese.

“I’m in contact with some of our big US names like Matt Schlapp and they are certainly aware of what has happened.

“Don Trump Jr has certainly boosted it.”

Mr Kassam made his name as an editor for the London bureau of Breitbart News, the far-right website previously run by President Trump’s former chief counsellor Steve Bannon. He worked as an adviser for Mr Farage when he was still leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Mr Kassam ran for the UKIP leadership in 2016 after the Brexit referendum, but faced attacks from within and outside the party for a variety of tweets including one where he said Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, should tape her legs shut to stop herself from ever reproducing.

He pulled out of the leadership race three days after he announced his bid.

Mr Kassam also asked on Twitter if former British Labour minister Angela Eagle was “in the special needs class” and called German Chancellor Angela Merkel “a dumpy old hag”.

The far-right writer and former Muslim has written online he “can’t stand Islam” and said it had become “the de facto state ­religion” in Britain.

He has since apologised for his ­attacks on Ms Sturgeon and Ms Eagle.