Coalition MP George Christensen is the latest political passenger to jump on the immigration bandwagon this week. In the wake of One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson’s speech on Wednesday, he has decided to express his own views on immigration and the types of people Australia is letting in.
Apparently they are not sharing “Australian values” so the Queensland backbencher is calling for immigration to be restricted from countries where violent extremism is prevalent.
His views, by the way, are at odds with the Coalition leader, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has often described Australia as the most successful multicultural national on earth.
Christensen, however, is riding the anti-Muslim wave and has told Parliament that he has concerns about “the rise of Islamism in this country and those who are willing to commit violence in the name of that ideology”. Sound familiar?
“Why did (the immigrants) choose to come to Australia in the first place?” he asked in the House of Representatives.
“There are other countries that they would find less offensive, countries where they could enjoy a similar level of oppression and violence to which they are accustomed, which they obviously want.
“It is not necessary to travel half way around the world to come to Australia and demand that Australians change their culture, their society and their laws to match those of their former homeland.”
He also mimicked Senator Hanson’s fear that Australia could soon be subjected to Sharia law.
“Sharia is not a religion and for that matter neither is Islamism. In this country there is no freedom to pick and choose which laws you obey,” he said.
Like the fallout from Senator Hanson’s maiden speech, Christensen’s comments have got people chatting vigorously on social media.
And Hanson and Christensen’s comments have also sparked the Prime Minister to come out hard against the two Queenslanders.
“Tagging all Muslims with the crimes of a few is fundamentally wrong and it’s also counter-productive,” Mr Turnbull told commercial radio station 3AW today.
“Seeking to demonise or denigrate all Muslims or seek to alienate all Muslims and suggest they’re somehow not part of Australia or shouldn’t be in Australia, that is exactly what the extremists and terrorists are saying to the Muslim community.”
What do you think of George Christensen’s comments?
