Election 2016: Royal commission into Islam 'divisive', Labor candidate Anne Aly says

Updated

Labor candidate for the WA seat of Cowan and terror de-radicalisation expert Anne Aly has derided Pauline Hanson's push for a royal commission into Islam as a "far-fetched" proposal that will create division.

Ms Aly is in one of the most tightly fought battles of the election, and is just a few hundred votes in front of rival Liberal candidate Luke Simpkins.

Current tallies show she has achieved a 4.8 per cent swing to Labor.

Ms Aly said some of Ms Hanson's policies had very little chance of getting up.

"Most reasonable Australians look at the kinds of policy platforms, like having royal commissions into religions, and see that they're just not reasonable, they're just not ... a path that Australia wants to go down," she said.

"She was elected democratically and it's part of the democratic process, so she has a right to put those things up and we have a right to say 'no'."

Ms Hanson has called for a royal commission into whether Islam is a religion or an ideology, and a ban on the building of new mosques.

She is expected to secure a Senate spot for Queensland, and believes her party could pick up others in New South Wales and Western Australia.

'Smear campaign backfired'

Ms Aly also denied comments from Justice Minister Michael Keenan, regarding her work with de-radicalisation, had damaged her campaign, saying they had instead boosted her chances.

The counter-terrorism researcher wrote a submission to a New South Wales court in the trial of former Perth-based radical Junaid Thorne during his sentencing hearing for taking a flight under a false name.

During the campaign, senior Liberals including Deputy Leader Julie Bishop said Ms Aly must explain why she helped someone of "great interest to our security and intelligence" agencies.

"From what I gathered from the people that I spoke to, it garnered more support for me because they just thought thought it was pretty despicable," Ms Aly said.

"For those who didn't have an opinion either way, it kind of raised my profile, it got my name out there a lot more, so I certainly would put it down as one that backfired."

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-elections, elections, terrorism, islam, religion-and-beliefs, wa

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