Chief minister says it is important to be ‘vigilant’ when deciding who comes to Australia, and refugees from a non-Muslim background ‘couldn’t be radicalised’

The Northern Territory wants to ensure that the “wrong people” are not being let into Australia, and is happy to take “non-Muslim” Syrian refugees, the chief minister has said.

Adam Giles told Mix 104.9 FM in Darwin on Monday that last year the NT offered to take some of the 12,000 additional Syrian and Iraqi refugees coming to Australia as part of an increased humanitarian intake.

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“I said we’d be happy to take some of those persecuted Syrian women and families who were from a non-Muslim background, people who couldn’t be radicalised, people who weren’t radicalised and people who had major security checks,” he said.

“We still take that position that we will support people from the right backgrounds to support them from a humanitarian point of view, but we’ve just got to be vigilant and make sure we’re not letting the wrong people in Australia, because there are people out there who are doing their best to harm our way of life in western society ... it’s not all Muslims, so I’m not saying that.”