Kruger appeared this morning on a panel section of Channel Nine’s The Today Show to discuss the question: “Do more migrants increase the risk of terror attacks?”.

In response, Kruger referred to a column by News Corp’s columnist Andrew Bolt where he linked Muslim immigration to France for the recent spate of terrorist attacks in the country.

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“Andrew Bolt has a point here, that there is a correlation between the number of people who are Muslim in a country and the number of terrorist attacks,” Kruger said.

“I have a lot of very good friends who are Muslim, who are peace-loving, who are beautiful, but there are fanatics.”

This stereotyping of Muslims does nothing but breed hate, as @DavidCampbell73 says – let’s speak out against it https://t.co/ypDA3u9PDO

— Tim Soutphommasane (@timsout) July 18, 2016

She called for an end to Muslim migration, citing the reason that she wanted to “feel safe”.

“This article breeds hate”

“I would like to see it stopped now for Australia because I want to feel safe, as all our citizens do, when they go out to celebrate Australia Day and I’d like to see freedom of speech as well,” Kruger said.

Co-panellist David Campbell then interjected with: “I’d like freedom of religion as well … this article breeds hate.”

Today host Lisa Wilkinson pressed Kruger for clarification.

“Sonia are you saying that you would like our borders closed to Muslims at this point?” Wilkinson asked.

“Yes I would. I would because I think we have something like 500,000 in our country now … for the safety of our citizens here, I think it’s important,” Kruger replied.

Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane later posted on Twitter, urging people to speak out against comments like those made by Sonia Kruger suggesting Australia’s borders should be closed to Muslims.

Kruger defends comments on immigration

Sonia Kruger said she’s entitled to discuss these issues.

“Following the atrocities of last week in Nice where 10 children lost their lives, as a mother, I believe it’s vital in a democratic society to be able to discuss these issues without automatically being labelled racist,” she posted on Twitter.

Sonia Kruger was the top trend on Twitter on Monday afternoon following her comments, sparking many to speak out on social media for and against her comments.

The Nine Network said it would not be making a comment at this stage. However, Kruger has taken to Twitter to defend her remarks.