[13][14] On the issue of asylum seekers coming to Australia, reports from the US Embassy in 2009 show that Khalil actively advised Rudd to "calmly and rationally put the issue in perspective", specifically "that there were about 60,000 cases of visa over-stayers per year, while only 1000 asylum seekers entered Australian waters by boat by that stage in 2009".

[15] While working at the Brookings Institution, Khalil was an informant for the Embassy of the United States about internal Labor Party disputes surrounding refugee policy.

[26] Joining Government benches for the first time, Khalil was appointed chair of the Joint Parliamentary Committee for Intelligence and Security.

[12] In July 2024, Prime Minister Albanese gave Khalil the additional responsibility of being Special Envoy for Social Cohesion, and in January 2025 in an interview with Michael Visontay, for The Jewish Independent, was called the 'government's official tightrope walker'.

Equally, he was critical of state government authorities for the heavy handed lockdown that seemed to target public housing estates in Melbourne in July 2020 would only "entrench disadvantage".

[31] Khalil conforms to classical Labor concerns for Australia, particularly that its "...wages have been stagnant under this government, there’s been underemployment and a lack of investment".

[33] On energy, Khalil has withdrawn support from Adani’s Carmichael coal mine because "it doesn't stack up commercially and environmentally".

This understanding is in fact what has driven the tremendous contributions of millions of migrants who have come to call Australia home...[36]During the early months of the outbreak of Coronavirus, he spoke up for detainees who have cleared security checks, saying, "Releasing them will both protect the physical and mental health of these refugees and asylum seekers, and assist in the nationwide efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Khalil is a strong supporter of the Western alliance, having served with Coalition forces in Iraq and with the Brookings Institution as visiting fellow.

[12] In an article co-written with Michael Danby and Carl Ungerer, Khalil has argued that, "Bowing to Beijing would be the modern equivalent of the Munich Agreement".

[39] He went on to argue for a containment of Chinese totalitarian threats to democratic nations, saying: It is in Australia's most vital strategic interest that the US presence in our region is not weakened or undermined.

It's because we are a liberal democracy whose interests are best served by a stable, prosperous region in which all countries evolve towards more democratic forms of government, as is indeed happening, most notably in Indonesia.

[39]Khalil was appointed the deputy chair to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties in mid 2019, working alongside Dave Sharma.

[41] He's understood to be part of Parliamentary Friends of Democracy with then fellow Labor colleague Senator Kimberley Kitching and several Coalition figures.

[42] Khalil has contributed to The Tocsin[43] the official publication of the social democratic think tank, John Curtin Research Centre.

"[44] In 2022 Khalil was made Australian Co-Chair for the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a global group who work to ensure that an authoritarian Chinese does not interfere with the governance and principles of the world's democracies.