To add to the “reasons I’m never going back to Australia while John Howard is in power” pile:
“Prime Minister John Howard has defended his decision to record a goodwill message for an Australia Day prayer event organised by a controversial group involved in an anti-Islamic court case.”
According to Howard, “Christianity has been an enormous force for good and has done more than anything else to shape the lives, not only of millions of Australians, but the character of our nation.”
Every time I start to comment on that my blood pressure rises, so for the sake of my own health I won’t – there is so much wrong with that statement I’d be dead by the end of the sentence.
So let me close with this quote:
“Member of the prime minister’s Muslim Community Reference Group and former president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Yasser Soliman, said Mr Howard should have thought twice about making the DVD.
“Of course the prime minister is free to address anyone he chooses,” Mr Soliman told AAP.
“But what he says is extremely influential and what he fails to say is also influential.
“I would hope that he would clearly condemn hate speeches in all their forms irrespective of who the perpetrators are.
“It could be perceived that he might have a different standard for some sectors of the community than he has for other sectors in the Australian community, and that would be sending a very dangerous message here and overseas.””
The Age
In the interests of fairness, I look forward to John Howard’s goodwill messages for Australia’s LGBT communities at Midsumma and Mardi Gras.