Muslim immigration likened to bird flu

A NSW Senate candidate has compared the immigration of Muslims to Australia to the bird flu and says it should stop. Christian Democratic Party (CDP) Senate candidate Paul Green called today for a  moratorium on Muslim immigration while a study on its social impacts was carried out.

He said it would be easier to carry out such a study with the country’s Muslim population at 300,000, rather than three million at a later date. A study would also give the Australian people a chance to have a say on the immigration program, Mr Green said.

“If there was bird flu coming from a people’s group across the nation would we not halt, assess the risk management of what it means to Australia and then assess the factors and then say, is it not safe to continue that or withhold it until it is dealt with,” he said. Mr Green said Australia would suffer the same fate as “Britain, France and Holland” unless the study was carried out.

Christian Democrats leader Fred Nile said his party’s immigration policy also called on a priority for Christians who have been persecuted, particularly in Muslim countries, to be allowed into Australia. “It’s a very broad policy, and it is certainly not racist,” Mr Nile said. Mr Nile said he believed the Federal Government was already starting to adopt some of the CDP policies.

AAP, 23 August 2007