Article from: Australian Associated Press
WILSON Tuckey's claim that terrorists are arriving as asylum seekers is irresponsible and lacks evidence, a leading counter-terror expert says.
The federal Liberal MP today said there were "narrow odds" that terrorists were aboard vessels being intercepted by the navy when attempting to reach Australian shores. "I'm a bit amazed that apparently when the federal police write a report that infers that there could be an occasional terrorist in a boatload of people, that that's so unique that it needs to be classified," he said.
Asylum seekers arriving in Australia all undergo security checks from ASIO, work done in conjunction with Indonesia, said Dr Michael McKinley, a senior lecturer in international relations at Australian National University in Canberra.
"If you look at what happened in the US (ahead of September 11) they came in on US visas," he said. "The question about whether these boats contain terrorists, you can make this statement irresponsibly unless you have evidence."
"It's irresponsible given the vast number of people going through this country.
Dr McKinley said the real problem facing Australia was not terrorists trying to get into the country.
"The big problem is that most of the terrorists are homegrown and on top of that they've not attracted attention," he said. The chance of terrorists arriving via boat was "infinitesimally small".
as posted here
