Says Australians should decide if they want “non-English speaking immigrants from the third world,” Muslims in particular
Australian crossbench senator Fraser Anning from the Katter’s Australia party, in his maiden parliament speech, has called for a plebiscite to decide if “non-English speaking immigrants from the third world,” should be allowed in the country, especially Muslims. He went on to say that this would be “the final solution” to the country’s immigration problems.
Australian Senator Demands “Final Solution” for Immigration[/tweetthis]
Anning also praised the White Australia Policy, which was in effect from 1901 to the late 1960s. The policy banned the immigration of non-European people so that Australia could be predominantly white, and the termination of this policy in the late 1960s enabled the cultural conquest of Australia, he said.
Take on the Muslim population
The Queensland senator attacked Muslims in particular for reasons which were “compelling and self-evident.” A high number of Muslims do not work and depend on welfare, they have high crime rates and are associated with the problem of terrorism, according to Anning. “While all Muslims are not terrorists, certainly all terrorists these days are Muslims,” he said.
The controversial speech also stated that Australia would have no choice but to face an irreversible change if citizens do not fight back and start what he called a “cultural counter-revolution.”
Harsh criticism
Anning received a lot of criticism for his speech, particularly because he used the words “final solution,” which is the term used for the Jewish extermination in Nazi Germany. Cabinet minister Mitch Fifield said what Anning said was regrettable and he thought the Parliament was beyond such notions. Tony Burke, Labor frontbencher, called the speech vile and said it was another speech trying to divide the nation.
Richard Di Natale, Greens leader, said using the same words the Nazis did to describe the Holocaust to refer to Muslim immigrants today is “vile, racist, bigoted and has no place in society”.
Fraser Anning's comments were vile, racist, bigoted and have no place in our society.https://t.co/u2D9UkakFn pic.twitter.com/7jBGJQpjUh
— Richard Di Natale (@RichardDiNatale) August 14, 2018
However, Anning responded to these criticisms, saying they are ridiculous and baseless. He claimed left wing politicians and the media are only trying to shut down the debate on immigration by attacking him, and not talking about the topic itself. To defend himself, he said his choice of words did not have any historic connotation and was only referring to need for what he called an ultimate solution. “Anyone who actually reads them in context will realize this,” Anning said.
This is racism and bigotry openly on display in the Australian Parliament. The use of such language risks inciting the most serious kind of hatred and violence against Muslims. Anyone who knows a thing about history will have felt a shiver up their spine https://t.co/SJO71Ap18y
— Tim Soutphommasane (@timsout) August 14, 2018