Australian lawmaker calls for debate on Muslim immigration.
Sydney – Member of Parliament Kevin Andrews on Thursday called for a national debate on whether Muslim immigration to Australia should be curbed. Andrews, immigration minister in the conservative government defeated two years ago, said Muslims were the first migrant group not to assimilate and to congregate in certain suburbs of big cities.
“To have a concentration of one ethnic or one particular group that remains in an enclave for a long period of time is not good,” Andrews told local radio. “You should be able to talk about it … it’s ridiculous if you can’t talk about any subject.”
Andrews was commenting on a column in The Australian newspaper arguing that large numbers of Muslim migrants posed a security risk because some would be drawn to terrorism.
Andrews’ call for debate was immediately stomped on by Greens leader Bob Brown.
“We are seeing a far-right, pretty disgusting point of view,” he said.
Dan 1:33 pm on October 29, 2009 Permalink |
First migrant group not to assimilate? Has he ever been to Melbourne? Or the suburbs of Chatswood and Eastwood in Sydney? There are PLENTY of East Asians who still have yet to speak English over there.
He should stop singling out Muslims if he is serious about ethnic enclaves. Brighton le Sands is mostly Greek, whereas Cabramatta mostly consists of ethnic Vietnamese, and Punchbowl is mostly Croat.
Don’t get me wrong, I do think that there is a minority of Muslims who do not integrate, and suburbs like Lakemba and Blacktown is further proof of it. However, using inflammatory language like this will not accomplish anything. It didn’t work at all for John Howard and I doubt it will work with Andrews. Contrary to popular belief, not all Australians are bigots like the scum in Camden or Cronulla Beach 4 years ago.
null 6:25 pm on October 29, 2009 Permalink |
Such a strange thing for Andrews to say. If he doesn’t want Muslims in the country, at least have the strength of conviction to come right out and say it. This “first migrant group not to assimilate”is so easily disprovable. I meet little old Greek and Italian ladies at the bus stop that have been here since the 1950’s and can only speak in heavily accented, broken English.
Are you a Sydney-sider too Dan?
Dan 4:13 am on October 31, 2009 Permalink |
Null, I spent 7 months in Sydney last year so no. I’m actually American lol
Whereabouts in Sydney do you reside? I stayed in Epping for a while and then spent my last month near Manly Beach. I sure miss it though
Anyways, yeah it is very strange considering that Muslims did contribute to Australia. Who helped explore the arid Outback and introduce camels to the terrain, thus saving Anglo lives? They don’t name the train service “The Ghan” for nothing, you know! The oldest mosque is further out west in NSW (forgot the name of the town where it’s at), and it is still standing.
In addition, I don’t see his ass complaining about the dumbass Balkan retards who start stupid fights in Melbourne during the Australian Open. They should be the ones deported back to their crapholes.
null 5:22 am on October 31, 2009 Permalink |
Oh, you had me fooled. Was under the impression you were an Australian. I live in Carlton (South Sydney, somewhere in between Cronulla and the City).
Manly is definitely very miss-able.
Dan 2:43 pm on October 31, 2009 Permalink
One of my good friends from high school here in the states lives in Cronulla lol
I did like Brighton le Sands though, but then again I like culture from the Mediterranean personally
Dan 2:14 pm on October 29, 2009 Permalink |
Uh, did my post get deleted? I’m confused
johnpi 2:17 pm on October 29, 2009 Permalink |
Somehow it got redirected to the spam folder. Weird glitch – if the software had identified your email as a spam address, then this post wouldn’t have gotten through either, but it did. Very arbitrary…
Dan 2:18 pm on October 29, 2009 Permalink |
Thanks for the clarification johnpi. I was wondering what occurred haha
Dan 2:17 pm on October 29, 2009 Permalink |
Ignore this post, I don’t know why my original post didn’t show up. My apologies for the false alarm.
johnpi 2:23 pm on October 29, 2009 Permalink |
Actually, your post did show up on the front page for awhile, then it disappeared to the spam folder. Weird.