By Lawrence Bartlett in Sydney |  Wednesday, 24 August , 2005, 13:11
Muslims who want to live under the Islamic Sharia law were told Wednesday to get out of Australia as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia at a special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown.

Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular state and its laws were made by parliament.

"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," he said on national television.

"Id 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."

"If you cant agree with parliamentary law, independent courts,democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country which practises it, perhaps, then, thats a better option," Costello said.

Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked move to the other country.

Education Minister Brendan Nelson later told reporters that Muslims who did not want to accept local values should "clear off".

"Basically, people who dont want to be Australians, and they dont want to live by Australian values and understand them, well then they can basically clear off," he said.

Muslim schools will have to denounce terrorism as part of an effort to stamp out home-grown extremism under measures announced after Howards meeting with 14 Islamic leaders Tuesday.

The prime minister called the meeting in the wake of last months London bombings by British-born Muslims, amid fears that Australia could be the target of a similar attack by disaffected members of its small Muslim community.

"The purpose of the meeting was to identify ways of preventing the emergence of any terrorist behaviour in this country," Howard told commercial radio Wednesday.

"You wont change the minds of people who are hardened fanatics and hardened extremists. You have to identify them and take measures to ensure that they dont become a problem."

Asked if he was prepared to "get inside" mosques and schools to ensure there was no support for terrorism, Howard said: "Yes, to the extent necessary".

Britain, shaken by the rail and bus bombings which killed 56 people, is debating new powers which could include closing mosques where clerics are suspected of supporting extremists and deporting those who glorify suicide bombers.

Australia, which like Britain has troops in Iraq, is also contemplating tougher anti-terror legislation. which will be debated next month at a meeting between Howard and leaders of state governments.

Meanwhile, an Islamic youth organisation that was not invited to Howards Tuesday meeting said it would call an alternative conference -- on September 11 -- for what it says is the 80 percent of Muslims who were not represented.

The Affinity Intercultural Foundation (AIF) told national radio it wants to try to change the dates association with Islamic violence, and to highlight how mainstream Muslims have become victims of prejudice and bias.

AIF director Mehmet Saral said Muslims were feeling more victimised than at any other time in their history of living in Australia. Some 300,000 Muslims make up just 1.5 percent of Australias population of 20 million.


taken from here


heh

i want to be australian now.

At least some countries still have a pair of plums to get rid of extremist scum.

 

Quote from: Clockd 0NeAt least some countries still have a pair of plums to get rid of extremist scum.

Aye, where have our minerals gone :/

Quote from: Nimrod

Quote from: Clockd 0NeAt least some countries still have a pair of plums to get rid of extremist scum.

Aye, where have our minerals gone :/

In the direction off the stupid PC people.

QuoteEducation Minister Brendan Nelson later told reporters that Muslims who did not want to accept local values should "clear off".

   

As long as theyre going to target all religious extremists, Im down with it. Ill remind you all, that the push and shove to start this Iraq war mess has its roots in Rapture Ready(tm) Christianity and their view of dominionism as predicating any national law.

youve gotta love the aussies - blunt & to the point

nothing against muslims in general - (I mean I did grow up in the birmingham area so know quite a lot muslims anyway)

but there are some extreem elements that are rather dangerous - isolating themselves form the general community - girls getting kidnapped 7 taken to pakistan in order to carry out ofrced marriages, "honour killings when young muslim girls fall in love with non muslims (hardly surprising in a non muslim coutnry) - or even simply with other muslims whom thier parents dont approve of.
and of course there is the whole terror thing - has become almost cool amongst some muslim teenagers to brag about 911/terrorism etc.. - the kill infidels etc.. banners in the anti cartoon protests were frankly appaling.

tbh.. it isnt much different to some of the anti new world order red neck comunities in rural areas of the USA - I dont think  theyd go as far as honour killings - but theyd probably dis own any daughter who married a negro - & the good old red neck extreemists are also guilty of a bit of terrorism too.

Except... if that happened in the UK youd get an elderly woman complain that she had to move slightly to allow 2 "dodgy" looking muslims sit down on a park bench, then half of the parks visitors would have a game of chinese whispers, and insist that the muslims are removed because they look dodgy.

The sun will claim that they are terrorists, insist they invoke anti-terrorist laws and deport the islamic extremists found in the park.

Theyll get deported and itll transpire that they werent "dodgy" they were simply selecting songs on an mp3 player, and talking in a language that wasnt english.

Quote from: maximusotterAs long as theyre going to target all religious extremists, Im down with it. Ill remind you all, that the push and shove to start this Iraq war mess has its roots in Rapture Ready(tm) Christianity and their view of dominionism as predicating any national law.

Aussies tend to be very practical about their, and anone elses, religious beliefs. They certainly wouldnt be called radical in the normal sense of the word but rather different. General consensus is you believe what you want but dont try and shove it onto me or else...

I have a feeling you would like em

Aussies are fine, except for that accent, which is like a barb up the urethra. Strangely, I can stand Kiwis w/o wanting to shoot self in ear.

What Im getting at is that you want to frame it as a fight against radical fundamentalism of any sort, be it Muslim, Christian, white supremicism, or Scientology. Yeah, there are likely a lot more radical Muslims in the world than radicals hiding out in the woods of Montana, but a lot of folks conveniently forget that Timothy McVeigh was a "nice Catholic boy", one that became radicalized and killed 168. He was a registered Republican as well. :shock:

excellent idea, we should adopt it.