PM should Support Our Muslim Community, not dictate to them

The Australian Democrats have called on the Prime Minster to provide public support to the Muslim community rather than lend his weight to the crusade of vilification being conducted against them.

“The double standards being applied over this incident are blatant. It will only serve to increase the alienation felt by many Muslim Australians and feed the hostility of other Australians towards them,” Senator Bartlett said.

“It is time for the Prime Minister to put the national interest ahead of his own short-term political gain.”

“However terrible Sheik's comments were, as far as I know he's never been accused or found to guilty of the even worse crime of child rape, unlike a number of priest and religious figures. The Church not only didn't 'take action' on many of those incidents, it actively covered them up for decades.

“When the Pope stated last year that "deep seated homosexual tendencies are objectively disordered" and that such persons are "gravely hindered in relating correctly to men and women", nobody demanded that the Pope by replaced or that reaction to his views would be a 'test of the bona fides of the Catholic community'.

“The Prime Minister should stop instructing the Muslim community how to handle this situation. He knows full well that by publicly telling them what they should do, it makes it much harder for them to do it, as they will just be seen to be acting on his instruction.

“Suggestions have already come from the Muslim community of a plan to abolish the position of Mufti in Australia and this seems sensible to me. But the main thing that will threaten any such move is outsiders pontificating through the media about what they should do and when they should do it.

“It is way past time to cut the double standards and stop the feeding frenzy in this debate. We should give the Muslim community the opportunity to address the problem in their own way and in their own time. The Prime Minster should be showing leadership on this issue by giving this beleaguered community much needed support to help achieve this,” Senator Bartlett concluded.

SENATOR ANDREW BARTLETT
Queensland Democrat Senator

Media contact – Tracee McPate – 0417 607 655



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