17 February 2011

Canberra Muslims 'disappointed' with Humphries

| Graham Cooke
Join the conversation
5

Canberra Muslims are very disappointed that ACT Senator Gary Humphries has tabled a petition in Parliament put forward by three Sydney residents asking for a 10-year moratorium on Muslim migration to Australia.

President of Australian Muslim Voice Inc, a Canberra-based organisation dedicated to Islamic arts and culture, Diana Abdel-Rahman said: “I am concerned that we are seeing the start of another round of Muslim bashing in Australia where politicians start pandering to the extreme elements in our society in what it seems to be a bid to garner support for the next elections”.

All free peoples support the concept of free speech, however, Ms Abdel-Rahman said: “free speech comes with responsibility; outrageous and radical views do not have a place in Parliament no matter how well it is veiled as a right or a freedom”.

She said political parties of all persuasion had shown a propensity to tap into the bigoted and narrow-minded elements in society, using it as wedge politics to claim popularity.

“Australian Muslim Voice is concerned that the dark clouds of Islamophobia are starting to gather over our society again and that popularism is back on the agenda of some politicians, either as an issue of refugees or immigration,” Ms Abdel-Rahman said

“We plead with Mr Humphries and others who are contemplating doing such acts to think about their constituents who are also Australian and profess the Muslim faith.

“It would be sad if as Wikileaks has apparently revealed, that politicians openly say one thing and say something different behind the scenes.”

[ED – if Wikileaks revealed that to you, well, you weren’t paying attention.]

Join the conversation

5
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

I think the government should look at what the Danish government have gone through with Muslims, they now have made it harder for them to live in their country, the Danes have regretted them coming in, as they don’t assimilate with the Danes.
Most of them are on welfare.

LSWCHP said :

And finally, I work with a staunch Liberal voter. After this debacle, and Morrison’s obscene raving about the asylum seekers funerals, he was shaking his head today and loudly wondering what has happened to common sense in the Federal Liberal party.

I think they’re muckraking to stir up those people like the good Captain SS here who get their news from A Current Affair and would tarnish a whole religion due to the actions of a tiny few.

It might win them the next election. That’s the worrying thing.

I heard Gary being interviewed about this by Marius Benson (I think) on ABC News radio. It went something like this…

MB: There are anti-Semites in Australia. If you received a petition from three of them proposing that Jews be banned from coming here, would you table it in Parliament?

GH: Waffles pompously in a deep and serious voice for a long time, and totally fails to answer the question.

MB: You haven’t answered my question!

GH: More pompous bloviation in deep serious voice. Still fails to answer question.

MB: But you *still* haven’t answered my question!

GH: (In surly tone) I think I’ve answered your question very comprehensively

MB: Thank you Senator Humphries

GH (I\n *very* surly and ungracious tone) OK.

Overall, I’d say that GH came out of this very poorly. Even if you didn’t already know he was a clown, the only conclusion you could reasonably draw after listening to this is that he’s a clown.

And hats off to Mr Benson of the ABC for his dogged pursuit of this simple and reasonable point in the face of overwhelming obfuscation and slipperiness on the part of GH.

And finally, I work with a staunch Liberal voter. After this debacle, and Morrison’s obscene raving about the asylum seekers funerals, he was shaking his head today and loudly wondering what has happened to common sense in the Federal Liberal party.

Holden Caulfield12:59 pm 17 Feb 11

Pretty easy to cross the floor and placate your actual constituents when you know it’s a losing cause.

If we get a few hundred people to sign petitions, but with no more than three signatures, with each petition worded differently, would he submit each and every one of them to Parliament?

To be fair to Gary though, he did cross the floor against his party with that gay marriage vote(which was a first, if i recall correctly) , so i would predict that he might actually believe what he says about free speech.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.