Taylor says higher risk of ‘bad people coming from bad countries’ and that welcome to country ceremonies ‘overused’

Angus Taylor has pointed to Iran as a ‘bad country’ and said there is a higher risk of bad people coming from bad countries. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPView image in fullscreenAngus Taylor has pointed to Iran as a ‘bad country’ and said there is a higher risk of bad people coming from bad countries. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPAustralian immigration and asylumTaylor says higher risk of ‘bad people coming from bad countries’ and that welcome to country ceremonies ‘overused’Opposition leader doubles down on immigration policy and defends preferencing One Nation over independent in Farrer in ABC interview Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Krishani DhanjiSun 26 Apr 2026 02.22 EDTFirst published on Sat 25 Apr 2026 22.16 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleThe opposition leader, Angus Taylor, has said “there is a higher risk that some bad people come from those bad countries”, doubling down on his immigration policy and refusing to call out Pauline Hanson’s hardline stance.Speaking to the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, Taylor said Indigenous welcome to country ceremonies were overused, after booing incidents at some of Saturday’s Anzac Day dawn services. He also defended preferencing One Nation above the independent community candidate, Michelle Milthorpe, in the upcoming Farrer byelection, arguing the teals “vote with the Greens”.Since being elected the Liberal leader, Taylor has singled out migrants from countries “ruled by fundamentalists, extremists and dictators” as being less likely to “subscribe” to liberal democratic values.What is in Angus Taylor’s new immigration plan and is it inspired by Trump’s approach in the US?Read moreOn Sunday, when asked whether migrants from China or Vietnam were less likely to fit in than migrants from Britain, he went further, specifically labelling some nations as “bad countries”.“Many good people come from bad countries. Some of the great Australians have come from countries that were bad countries at the time,” Taylor said.Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email“But there is a higher risk that some bad people come from those bad countries.”Taylor pointed to Iran as a “bad country”, but would not directly name any others.“We have bad countries around the world. I mean, to claim that Iran is a good country right now, seriously, and the government itself has put legislation in place to make it harder for people to come from Iran. We have seen terrible acts of atrocity coming from Gaza,” he said.“I mean, we know they’re in the Middle East and elsewhere, that have committed great atrocities on their own populations.”Australia has a non-discriminatory migration system, meaning people from specific countries are not blocked from applying for entry. Taylor said his party’s policy is in line with that, saying it would discriminate based on people who do not accept Australia’s “core values”.The Labor government last month banned close to 7,000 Iranian nationals with visitor visas from travelling to Australia for six months under new legislation, over concerns visitors may not be able to return to Iran.Taylor also refused to call out Hanson’s language on migration, and said he agreed with her on some issues.“In some things we might agree on and I am sure there are things we don’t agree on,” Taylor said.Hanson has called for all visas to be capped at 130,000 per year, while claiming credit for the Liberal party’s more…

This excerpt is published under fair use for community discussion. Read the full article at the Guardian.