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Australia's domestic spy chief has been forced to expand on comments he made rejecting a link between refugees and terrorism, after days of intense pressure.
Last week, Duncan Lewis, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, told a Senate hearing there was "absolutely no evidence" of a connection, rebuffing questions from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
In a rare media appearance on Wednesday morning, Mr Lewis said the key point was that "the refugee program is not the source of terrorism in Australia".
"We have had tens of thousands of refugees come to Australia over the last decade or so and a very few of them have become subjects of interest for ASIO and have been involved in terrorist planning," he told ABC radio.
"I'm not denying that. I've not said that there are no terrorists who have not been refugees or who have not been the sons and daughters of refugees born in this country.
"But the context is very important. The reason they are terrorists is not because they are refugees but because of the violent, extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam that they have adopted."
Following his responses to Senator Hanson last week, the senior public servant was criticised by One Nation, conservative commentators and former prime minister Tony Abbott, who suggested ASIO was "tiptoeing around this subject".
They pointed to Lindt siege perpetrator Man Haron Monis, who was granted refugee status, and teenage terrorists Abdul Numan Haider and Farhad Jabar, who were born in Australia to refugee families.
"In all of those cases, they were not terrorists because they were refugees. They were terrorists because of this warped, violent extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam," Mr Lewis said.
"The way they are absorbing it is quite interesting ... In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is a result of online viewing. They are getting online in their lounge rooms, in their bedrooms at a very young age and absorbing some of this very objectionable and brutal material."
He said refugees were not statistically more likely to be involved in terrorism and emphasised the importance of close relations between law enforcement authorities and the Muslim community.
Counter-terrorism experts overwhelmingly backed Mr Lewis' assessment on Tuesday, and cautioned his detractors against inflaming tensions with the Muslim community.
Attorney-General George Brandis, who has asked the director-general to brief sceptical Coalition MPs on the issue, also rallied behind Mr Lewis.
