05:49

Labor’s Murray Watt has asked the Australian Human Rights Commission about rightwing extremism, after Asio’s evidence it is on the rise.



Commission president Rosalind Croucher said its anti-racism work was directed at “rightwing extreme views”.



Human rights commissioner Ed Santow said Asio and other law-enforcement agencies “are the primary experts on the nature and scope of threats to national security” but the commission did advise the government on the legislative response.



The Liberal chair, Amanda Stoker, asked Watt to refer to “far-right extremism” instead of “rightwing extremism” and noted that Asio prefers this term. This sparked a to-and-fro between the pair, with Watt accusing her of dictating how he asked questions and referring to her as “commandant Stoker”.



Watt suggested Stoker was sensitive because of her attendance at the conference of CPAC, a conservative US outfit transplanted to Australia which caused controversy in August.



Stoker rejected the suggestion, saying she was “not sensitive, loved the conference, [it’s] not a problem”.



Eventually Watt continued to bait Stoker, so she gave the call to Liberal Sarah Henderson, which Watt suggested proved the point that rightwing extremism was growing. He withdrew the remark.