Michael Keenan open to working with Anne Aly on counter terrorism

FEDERAL Justice Minister and Stirling MHR Michael Keenan said he would be happy to consult Member for Cowan Dr Anne Aly for her counter terrorism expertise.

“If she has got a contribution to make then I’d be very happy to talk to her about that, we have got a lot of expertise at the Commonwealth level and in particular the unit within the Attorney General’s department that deals with this,” he said.

The Minister said he had not yet met with Dr Aly.

Mr Keenan came under fire at the federal election after he was accused of launching a smear campaign against Dr Aly in the lead up to the election.

In response to a recent poll which showed 49 per cent of Australians would support a ban on Muslim immigration Mr Keenan said he was not surprised.

“To be honest, with polls it depends what the question was and how it was asked – I saw the headline but I never really looked into it any further than that,” he said.

“As a Government it is important to explain why we have a non-discriminatory immigration process which has served us very well and it’s not fair for us to be classifying that one way or another, we need to look at people on an individual basis when it comes to the immigration system.”