More official realism about Islam in Oz

Preachers of hate were targeting vulnerable young Muslim men, posing serious problems for Australia, the federal Liberal frontbencher responsible for multiculturalism said yesterday. Throwing strong support behind Peter Costello’s call to Muslim Australians to obey domestic laws or else, Andrew Robb said only education and jobs would stop the young male Muslims from falling prey to extremists. Responding to angry retorts that Mr Costello’s comments reflected an anti-Muslim bias, he said the Islamic community should not ignore its problems.

Ahead of an inaugural meeting of the Government-appointed Muslim reference group, Mr Robb painted a grim picture of a vast pool of idle, isolated young Muslim males being targeted as potential terrorists by radical preachers. “Fifty per cent of the 300,000 Muslims in Australia are [aged] 24 or less, and in some areas have very high unemployment,” he said. “These are the young guys who are potential targets. We know there are radicals out there looking for vulnerable young men. “We need to identify how we get these young blokes into real jobs. That’s how you get real tolerance and understanding.”

Mr Robb said he had a message for the “99.9 per cent of the Muslim community who are as quintessentially Australian as the rest of us”. They needed to acknowledge there was legitimate anxiety in the community following the bombings in the US, Bali and London, which were the work of fringe elements in their communities. “We don’t solve problems by sweeping them under the carpet,” Mr Robb said. “Islam has been, is, and will be here in Australia, so it is very proper to confront the extremists. But it is very wrong to demonise the religion.”

The 14-member Muslim Reference Group will meet for the first time on Monday and Tuesday in Canberra, to look at ways of stamping out extremism and fighting the terrorism threat. Mr Robb said he fully expected to be tackled by members over Mr Costello’s comments, but said the Treasurer was only reflecting a majority view held by Australians in the wake of terrorist bombings. In his opening remarks, Mr Robb will tell the group they have a great responsibility to come up with a plan of action to rein in extremist imams. “They have been chosen to help develop an action plan, they have been chosen for their different perspectives.”

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils has also responded to Government calls to fight extremism by calling Muslim religious leaders to a summit next month. The aim is to develop a code of conduct to muzzle inflammatory statements by Muslim clerics. Controversial Melbourne-based preacher Sheik Mohammed Omran has defied his fellow imams, saying his community did not have the power to restrict his sermons.

Source

Posted by jonjayray on Sunday, February 26, 2006 at 09:39 AM in Australian Politics
Comments (7) | Tell a friend

Comments:

Posted by Guessedworker on February 26, 2006, 01:58 PM | #

quintessentially Australian

A quintessentially “correct” statement by, quintessentially, a moral coward.

Posted by Steve Edwards on February 26, 2006, 03:07 PM | #

“99.9 per cent of the Muslim community who are as quintessentially Australian as the rest of us…”

Yikes! If that’s “realism”, I’ll stick with fantasy.

Posted by AD on February 26, 2006, 04:13 PM | #

Yikes! If that’s “realism”, I’ll stick with fantasy.

It’s about as real as the statement that there are only 300,000 muslims in Australia(which is based on voluntary information given to the census 5 years ago). It’s at least triple that.

Posted by Andrew on February 26, 2006, 11:58 PM | #

They all should be gathering at the walf, awaiting the cattle ships to arrive to deport them, if any luck the Indonesians will not know what the cargo is and use the shipment for target practice.
You didn’t hear about that? 4 RAAF FA 18 hornets on flight to Singapore (Unarmed) were challenged by an Indonesian Air force jet Armed and sounded target lock- In international waters at that.Friends like these , Who need enemies?

Posted by Andrew on February 27, 2006, 12:08 AM | #

And Mr. Robb needs to do an Allah Acbah in a quarry out the back, What do you think is going to happen with 15 thousand Sudanese refugees in Sydney, so far , NOT GOOD. Our Cultural Diversity Police chief (Officer) ooo yeh , they exist-more of the misery industry at work, and I’m about to do the bolt. Sydney is falling apart big time and rapidly. I can not see it ever recovering. I need to get my wife and children to safety, and away from this insanity.

Posted by Mark Richardson on February 27, 2006, 06:41 AM | #

A small p.13 report from the last weekend’s Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne):

“A good Samaritan” was bashed as he went to the aid of an unconscious man being attacked by a gang of up to eight men in a city street.

[the helper] needed surgery after defending a stranger he saw being punched and kicked as he lay in Elizabeth St.

Police yesterady appealed for witnesses after reports a gang of “middle eastern looking men” continued to kick an eastern suburbs man, 26, as he lay unconscious for about three minutes.

Quintessentially Australian? Try hopelessly alien. The whole mindset is different - fighting 8 to 1, bashing an unconscious man. I don’t get the whole way of thinking. I was brought up on something very different - we fought a lot, and you were expected to stand your ground, but it was considered cowardly to gang up, or to king hit (sucker punch), or to use weapons.

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