Charles Johnson points to this story about Aussie Treasurer Peter Costello who says that Muslims who want Shari'a in Australia are not welcome:
Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law should get out of Australia, a senior government minister has said, hinting that some radical clerics might be asked to leave.
Australia was a secular state and its laws were made by parliament, Treasurer Peter Costello told national television late Tuesday.
"If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you," said Costello, who is seen as heir-apparent to Prime Minister John Howard.
"I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that that is false.
"There's only one law in Australia -- it's the law that's made by the parliament of Australia and enforced by our courts. There is no second law.
Not to be outdone, Education Minister Brendan Nelson adds that Muslims who don't except local values should "clear off."
Muslim schools will have to denounce terrorism as part of an effort to stamp out home-grown extremism under measures announced yesterday following a meeting between Muslim leaders and Prime Minister John Howard.
Dr Nelson today said he would meet with the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils to discuss programs that ensure students understand Australia's history, culture and values.
He said all Australian schools were required to teach the national values framework, including tolerance, responsibility and understanding, to students.
People who were not prepared to follow these Australian values should "clear off", he said.
"We believe in giving every person a fair go, we don't care where people come from, we don't mind what religion they've got," Dr Nelson said.
"But what we want them to do is commit to the Australian constitution, Australian rule of law and basically, people who don't want to be Australians, and they don't want to live by Australian values and understand them, well then they can basically clear off."
In an apparent good cop/bad cop play, PM John Howard met with Muslim leaders and at least got some lip service, but with much of the same qualifications (warning: this is from The Age, Australia's answer to The Guardian):
MUSLIM leaders and Prime Minister John Howard have agreed that schools and mosques must not encourage terrorism, and the Muslim community has also been urged to train clerics in Australia to avoid importing radicals from overseas.
Isn't it interesting that Muslim clerics would have to be trained NOT to import radicals? So in other words, is radicalism a natural state for them?
There is a lot of the same empty "we are all brothers" kind of talk while--look over there!--another Muslim leader goes for more of the usual "yes, but" talk:
But Islamic Friendship Association founder Keysar Trad, who was not at the summit, said he was concerned there could be licensing of Muslim imams, which did not apply to Christian priests or Jewish rabbis, and which would be discriminatory.
One leader at the meeting suggested the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be helping radicalise young Muslims. Muslim Women's National Network president Aziza Abdel Halim said many young people were attracted to radical preaching because of Western involvement in those wars.
Sheikh Isse Musse from the Islamic Council of Victoria mosque in West Melbourne, a non-attendee, said the summit should have looked at Australia's foreign policy and involvement in the war in Iraq.
Interesting, again, that we are supposed to worry about "radicalizing" young Muslims. We won't be able to win this war until radical Muslims start to worry about radicalizing American, Aussies and the rest of the West.
In a bizarre remark stuck into the body of this article--with a bullet--is the blurb about an ex-Gitmo detainee being the victim of a stabbing. What that has to do with the rest of the story, is anybody's guess.
All in all, there seems to be much more happening in Australia than in the US. If we only had leaders who would speak straight and citizens who would listen. Instead, we're actually supposed to sit up every time CAIR gets its panties in a twist over what is basically free speech.
By the way, Michael Graham already has a new gig. I don't know anything about Graham besides what I saw on the tube, but it seems to me that those getting upset about him and say, Pat Robertson, haven't actually voiced any concern over Cindy Sheehan's words. I thought free speech was just that. Apparently, some people only support free speech that they agree with.
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