Labor frontbencher Richard Marles has linked a recent poll showing blooming support for a ban on Muslim immigration with the conduct of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who this year said refugees "would be taking Australian jobs" and "languish in unemployment queues".
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The Essential poll, released on Wednesday, found 49 per cent of respondents backed a ban on Muslims moving to Australia, with concerns about integration into society listed as the major reason, followed by fears of terrorism and divergent values.
Appearing on Nine's Today program with Mr Marles on Friday, Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said threats from terrorist organisations understandably made people nervous.
"That's why the government and the opposition have to keep reassuring people about the strength of our borders, about national security, putting in place measures to protect us as much as we possibly can," Mr Pyne said.
Mr Marles, formerly the opposition immigration spokesman and now in the defence portfolio, said the poll was concerning and requires leadership, arguing the Mr Dutton was not providing this reassurance.
"There's no reassurance when you have got an Immigration Minister who talks about illiterate, innumerate refugees coming to the country and stealing our jobs and being on the dole," Mr Marles said.
"If you want to give people a sense of confidence about our multicultural society, we have got to see leadership from our government."
The Defence Industry Minister expressed disappointment and surprise that his sparring partner was "not being bipartisan about national security", arguing that the Abbott and Turnbull Coalition governments had restored faith in border security and immigration policies.
The controversial comments to which the senior Labor frontbencher refers were made during the election campaign, when Mr Dutton was asked about the Greens' proposal to boost Australia's refugee intake to 50,000 annually and warned that "they won't be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English".
"These people would be taking Australian jobs, there's no question about that," he told Sky News.
"For many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it so there would be huge cost and there's no sense in sugar-coating that, that's the scenario."
This week's poll found support for a ban on Muslim migratwas at 60 per cent among Coalition voters, 40 per cent among Labor voters and 34 per cent among Greens voters.
These numbers would represent a significant increase in hostility to Muslim people. A Roy Morgan poll conducted late last year found strong support for Muslim immigration, with 28 per cent opposed.
Following the poll, Anne Aly, the first Muslim woman elected to the Federal Parliament, said it doesn't reflect the reality of people's experiences in Australia but acknowledged there were underlying issues with xenophobia that needed to be addressed by political leaders.
Diversity advocate Mariam Veiszadeh said she felt sick upon viewing the numbers, expressing sorrow that "every second person sitting on the bus I was on ... would ban people like me from coming here".
Such a ban was previously considered an idea supported only by politicians such as One Nation's Pauline Hanson and, in the United States, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
