Western Resistance

« US: Man Shoots Cars Outside Philadelphia Mosque | | Lebanon: Bakri Warns of Muslim Riots in Britain »

November 10, 2005

Australia: Treasurer Again Tells Radical Muslims To Leave

Peter Costello, Australia's firebrand Treasurer, has once again telling radical Muslims who wish to live in an Islamic state that they can leave the country. He was speaking after a group of Muslims had been filmed on Tuesday beating up cameramen outside a courthouse in Melbourne where terror suspects were being charged.

Some of these were found to be working at the Woolworths factory in Melbourne, and have been subjected to abuse, though not on the scale of abuse they meted out physically to news crews.

Costello said, according to Australia's Daily Telegraph: "There are Islamic states around the world that practice Sharia law, and if that is your object, you may well be more at home in such a country than trying to turn Australia into one of those countries - because it is not going to happen."

Three of the five men seen hitting and kicking reporters work at the Woolworths factory in the suburb of Campbellfield, which employs 500 people. Their presence has caused dissent from other workers, some of whom refused to work with them. Twice this week production has been halted as managers try to ease tensions. At one stage, the three men were sent home early.

The managers have said that anyone harrassing the individuals will be sacked. The Telegraph quotes two disgruntled employees:

One angry worker said: "We don't want them here. Not all Muslims are terrorists, we know that. But beating up TV crews, that's just un-Australian.

Another worker said: "Some of the guys wanted to bash them. They were going to wait for them to knock off and get them," he said. "They're edgy about working alongside these blokes."

News.com.au reported on Mr Costello's speech.

"If you are somebody who wants to live in an Islamic state governed by sharia law you are not going to be happy in Australia, because Australia is not an Islamic state, will never be an Islamic state and will never be governed by sharia law," Mr Costello said.

"We are a secular state under our constitution, our law is made by parliament elected in democratic elections.

"We do not derive our laws from religious instruction."

He said that if someone felt alienated by Australia's system of laws and justice and wanted "something else", he advised that they should seek that "something else somwhere else".

We reported in August a similar speech by Mr Costello, in which he likened radical extremist Islam to Nazism, saying "I have seen people that say they believe in sharia law and theocracy. If that's their view, don't come to this country. This one is not for you. I don't think we can afford to be ambivalent about this point to young people or anyone else."

At least, as far as politicians go, Mr Costello is nothing if not consistent.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 10, 2005 8:33 PM

Comments

Post a comment