Immigration Minister Peter Dutton links asylum seekers with terrorism

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has linked asylum seekers with terrorism, insisting recent attacks overseas have made border security a key issue for voters at the election.

"They want to make sure that we know who's coming to this country - they've seen what's happened in Istanbul and in Brussels and in Paris," he told Sky News on Thursday night.

"We've shown over the course of the last couple of years that we've been able to stop people boarding planes that have been on their way to Australia, we think, to do harm."

Asked whether he was suggesting a link between boat arrivals and terrorist attacks, Mr Dutton said voters had seen what was happening in parts of Europe where countries had lost control of their borders.

He said many of the 50,000 asylum seekers who arrived in Australia during the Labor years came without documents.

"You cannot have people travelling in the modern age without identity documents," he said.