Some Australians might agree in principle with much of Angus Taylor’s recent speech on immigration. Few, for example, would object to the Australian values that visa applicants are required to sign up to. But similar to Pauline Hanson, Taylor provides few details on how he would implement his ideas, the cost of implementation, legal obstacles and likely effectiveness. Is showing he can outdo Hanson’s immigration rhetoric the main objective?

Australia’s existing character test is already extraordinarily broad. It gives the immigration minister almost godlike power to refuse and cancel visas. It already bans people with serious criminal convictions and members and supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah, Hizb-Ut-Tahrir and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. While it doesn’t explicitly ban members of the Israel Defense Forces who have also been accused of committing war crimes, it does ban people who would vilify parts of the Australian community or incite discord. That has led to some prominent Israelis having their visas refused.

The crucial test of Taylor’s ideas on refusing or cancelling visas of people who do not adhere to Australian values is how these would differ from people........

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