Migrants already sign on to Australian values, so what exactly is Angus Taylor proposing?

February 22, 2026 — 5:00am

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The question of how to surveille values is an interesting one, but before you get to it, you surely must ask yourself a preliminary question: what kind of values are we espousing when we propose to surveille values?

The political week was saturated with discussion of “Australian values”, courtesy of the media push by Opposition Leader Angus Taylor to define his leadership around the lightning-rod issue of immigration, based on “core values” and “Australian values”. The issue was given greater cogency by reports that a group of ISIS-linked women and their children are trying to leave the Al Roj detention camp in north-eastern Syria and return home. They have been treated with bipartisan pitilessness.

In his inaugural press conference as Liberal leader, Taylor said that his party would “put Australian values at the centre of that [immigration] policy”.

“If someone doesn’t subscribe to our core beliefs, the door must be shut,” he said.

In his subsequent media blitz, the line was oft-repeated. He told The Daily Telegraph in a video interview: “If you don’t believe in our core values, then you shouldn’t be coming to this country”.

He told the Sunrise program: “We believe in democracy, we believe that you need to obey the law, we believe in basic freedoms of speech and religion, and if people don’t accept those things they shouldn’t come to our country, the door should be shut”.

In an extended interview with 7.30’s Sarah Ferguson last Friday, just after he won the leadership ballot, Taylor recited his line again: “We need to make sure we shut........

© The Sydney Morning Herald