Extract from The Guardian
Far-right Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, will be allowed to speak in Australia for the second time in his controversial career, after being granted a visa.
Wilders is due to visit Australia this month for the launch of an anti-Islamic political party, the Australian Liberty Alliance, that was modelled on his own outfit, Party for Freedom.
The ALA’s president, Debbie Robinson, told Guardian Australia on Thursday afternoon that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection had been dragging its feet in giving Wilders clearance.
But later that night, the anti-Islamic party issued a statement saying Wilders’ visa had been issued.
“Everyone rallied together to remind the LNP government that Australia is still a democratic country based on Western values,” the statement said.
Robinson, told the ABC on Monday that the party had been given assurances in August that Wilders’s visa application would go through.
She told Guardian Australia on Thursday that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection had set a deadline of last Friday to make a decision on the visa, but that the date had passed with no word from either the department or the minister’s office. “I believe that they’re stonewalling the visa, deliberately going slow,” Robinson said before the announcement.
Calls to the office of the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, were not returned.
The Liberal backbencher, Cory Bernardi, a friend of Wilders who backed the far-right politician’s bid to visit Australia in 2012, was disappointed that his visa was not processed straight away.
“Geert Wilders is a democratically elected member of a sovereign ally of Australia and he has never advocated violence of any sort,” Bernardi said.
He warned that denying Wilders a visa “would reflect extremely badly on the [political] discourse of this country.”
Bernardi argued that Wilders should be allowed to tour, reflecting Australia’s strong commitment to freedom of speech. “I expected more from a Liberal government, quite frankly,” he said.
Wilders ran into trouble when he tried to visit Australia in 2012. The then Labor government stalled on issuing his visa, which in turn forced the organisers of his speaking tour to cancel and reschedule the events. He was later granted access to the country and undertook the speaking tour in early 2013.
Bernardi said he was hoping to catch up with the Dutch politician when he visited Australia.
“Given the opportunity, I’d love to see him again,” the Liberal senator said.
The executive director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation, Hass Dellal, told Guardian Australia that Wilders should be allowed to visit the country as long as politicians and community leaders sent a strong message that racism would not be tolerated.
“We have to test the strength of our multicultural foundation,” Dellal said. “I am confident that Australia’s cohesiveness is strong enough.”
He said Wilders’s 2013 speaking tour was a “dismal failure” because his message did not resonate with the majority of Australians.
But the former head of Muslims Australia, Ikebal Patel, said tensions between the Islamic community and wider Australia were higher now than they were when Wilders visited.
“The times then were different to now,” Patel told Guardian Australia, pointing to heightened fear of hate crimes within the Muslim community after December’s Lindt cafe siege in Sydney.
“He’s just going to fuel the fire,” Patel said. “The government is well advised to limit his exposure.”
He added: “His purpose is not to engage with the Muslim community [but to engage in] politics and disunity.”
The ALA wants to contest the next federal election, largely on an anti-Islamic platform that includes a moratorium on immigration from Muslim nations, and a ban on face coverings such as the burqa and niqab.
“It is our core policy that all attempts to impose Islam’s theocracy and sharia law on our liberal society must be stopped by democratic means, before the demographic, economic and sociopolitical realities make a peaceful solution impossible,” the party’s manifesto says.
Wilders praised the formation of the ALA, which borrows heavily from his Party for Freedom, writing a letter in October last year saying: “You are Australia’s answer to stopping the Islamisation of your beautiful country.”
He wrote: “Australia is indeed the lucky country so do your best to keep it that way. Don’t sell out your liberty and our shared western values to complacency and false prophets. Learn from the mistakes Europe has made.”
Wilders will launch the ALA in Perth on 20 October.
Wilders is due to visit Australia this month for the launch of an anti-Islamic political party, the Australian Liberty Alliance, that was modelled on his own outfit, Party for Freedom.
The ALA’s president, Debbie Robinson, told Guardian Australia on Thursday afternoon that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection had been dragging its feet in giving Wilders clearance.
But later that night, the anti-Islamic party issued a statement saying Wilders’ visa had been issued.
“Everyone rallied together to remind the LNP government that Australia is still a democratic country based on Western values,” the statement said.
Robinson, told the ABC on Monday that the party had been given assurances in August that Wilders’s visa application would go through.
She told Guardian Australia on Thursday that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection had set a deadline of last Friday to make a decision on the visa, but that the date had passed with no word from either the department or the minister’s office. “I believe that they’re stonewalling the visa, deliberately going slow,” Robinson said before the announcement.
Calls to the office of the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, were not returned.
The Liberal backbencher, Cory Bernardi, a friend of Wilders who backed the far-right politician’s bid to visit Australia in 2012, was disappointed that his visa was not processed straight away.
“Geert Wilders is a democratically elected member of a sovereign ally of Australia and he has never advocated violence of any sort,” Bernardi said.
He warned that denying Wilders a visa “would reflect extremely badly on the [political] discourse of this country.”
Bernardi argued that Wilders should be allowed to tour, reflecting Australia’s strong commitment to freedom of speech. “I expected more from a Liberal government, quite frankly,” he said.
Wilders ran into trouble when he tried to visit Australia in 2012. The then Labor government stalled on issuing his visa, which in turn forced the organisers of his speaking tour to cancel and reschedule the events. He was later granted access to the country and undertook the speaking tour in early 2013.
Bernardi said he was hoping to catch up with the Dutch politician when he visited Australia.
“Given the opportunity, I’d love to see him again,” the Liberal senator said.
The executive director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation, Hass Dellal, told Guardian Australia that Wilders should be allowed to visit the country as long as politicians and community leaders sent a strong message that racism would not be tolerated.
“We have to test the strength of our multicultural foundation,” Dellal said. “I am confident that Australia’s cohesiveness is strong enough.”
He said Wilders’s 2013 speaking tour was a “dismal failure” because his message did not resonate with the majority of Australians.
But the former head of Muslims Australia, Ikebal Patel, said tensions between the Islamic community and wider Australia were higher now than they were when Wilders visited.
“The times then were different to now,” Patel told Guardian Australia, pointing to heightened fear of hate crimes within the Muslim community after December’s Lindt cafe siege in Sydney.
“He’s just going to fuel the fire,” Patel said. “The government is well advised to limit his exposure.”
He added: “His purpose is not to engage with the Muslim community [but to engage in] politics and disunity.”
The ALA wants to contest the next federal election, largely on an anti-Islamic platform that includes a moratorium on immigration from Muslim nations, and a ban on face coverings such as the burqa and niqab.
“It is our core policy that all attempts to impose Islam’s theocracy and sharia law on our liberal society must be stopped by democratic means, before the demographic, economic and sociopolitical realities make a peaceful solution impossible,” the party’s manifesto says.
Wilders praised the formation of the ALA, which borrows heavily from his Party for Freedom, writing a letter in October last year saying: “You are Australia’s answer to stopping the Islamisation of your beautiful country.”
He wrote: “Australia is indeed the lucky country so do your best to keep it that way. Don’t sell out your liberty and our shared western values to complacency and false prophets. Learn from the mistakes Europe has made.”
Wilders will launch the ALA in Perth on 20 October.
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