'Tough line on immigration'

AUSTRALIA'S new Prime Minister Julia Gillard Sunday vowed not to let 'political correctness' get in the way of tackling immigration, signalling a tough line on the issue.

Ms Gillard, who ruthlessly deposed former leader Kevin Rudd and solved the mining tax row that weakened him a week later, said people should not be called racist for raising concerns about asylum seekers.

'I certainly dismiss labels like intolerant or racist because people raise concerns about border security, but we've also got to be very alive to the complexity of this and that there's no quick fix,' Ms Gillard told the Sunday Telegraph.

'There's a temptation for people to use these labels and names to try and close down debate and I'm very opposed to that. People need to be able to have honest discussions.

'So any sort of political correctness, or niceties that get in the way, I think, need to be swept out of the way.' The Welsh-born Ms Gillard, whose own parents emigrated to Australia in 1966. MORE