Opposition leader Angus Taylor has pointed to Iran as a 'bad country' and argued that 'there is a higher risk that some bad people come from those bad countries', doubling down on his immigration policy and refusing to criticise Pauline Hanson's hardline stance. Speaking on the ABC's Insiders program on Sunday, Taylor also said Indigenous welcome to country ceremonies are 'overused' after booing incidents at Anzac Day dawn services, and defended preferencing One Nation ahead of independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe in the upcoming Farrer byelection.
Immigration stance draws criticism
Since becoming Liberal leader, Taylor has singled out migrants from countries 'ruled by fundamentalists, extremists and dictators' as less likely to subscribe to liberal democratic values. On Sunday, when asked whether migrants from China or Vietnam were less likely to fit in than those from Britain, he went further, specifically labelling some nations as 'bad countries'. 'Many good people come from bad countries. Some of the great Australians have come from countries that were bad countries at the time,' Taylor said. 'But there is a higher risk that some bad people come from those bad countries.'
Taylor pointed to Iran as a 'bad country' but would not directly name others. 'We have bad countries around the world. I mean, to claim that Iran is a good country right now, seriously, and the government itself has put legislation in place to make it harder for people to come from Iran. We have seen terrible acts of atrocity coming from Gaza,' he said. Australia maintains a non-discriminatory migration system, but the Labor government recently banned nearly 7,000 Iranian nationals with visitor visas from travelling to Australia for six months over concerns they may not be able to return to Iran.
Preferencing and One Nation
Taylor defended preferencing One Nation ahead of the community independent candidate in Sussan Ley's former seat of Farrer, calling it the 'least worst option'. The Liberals will preference the Nationals' Brad Robertson second, followed by One Nation's David Farley in fourth and Milthorpe in ninth. Milthorpe and Farley are seen as frontrunners, making preference flows crucial. 'You choose the least worst option in preferencing and the least worst option is the National party for the Liberal party,' Taylor said. He criticised the teals for 'trashing our energy system' and 'voting with the Greens the majority of the time'. Milthorpe has told Guardian Australia she is not a 'teal', though she has received some support from Climate 200.
Taylor also refused to call out Hanson's language on migration, saying they agree on some issues. 'In some things we might agree on and I am sure there are things we don't agree on,' he said. Hanson has called for all visas to be capped at 130,000 per year, while claiming credit for the Liberal party's harder stance. On Sunday, Hanson and Nationals leader Matt Canavan attended an anti-immigration rally at parliament, where Canavan said the country had 'too much talk of diversity'.
Welcome to country ceremonies
Taylor condemned the booing of Indigenous acknowledgment of country at Anzac Day dawn services in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on Saturday, calling it 'absolutely inappropriate and un-Australian'. However, he said he believed welcome to country ceremonies are 'overused' and 'devalued'. 'I feel that at times, often actually, I think it is overused and as a result they are devalued,' Taylor said. 'I would like to see them used less and therefore not devalued as I think they have been over time.' Former Liberal leader Peter Dutton made similar comments during the 2025 election campaign.
