Malcolm Turnbull may have a sock stuffed into his gob but new assistant minister for multicultural affairs, Zed Seselja, has spoken on the immigration debate, from The Guardian:
Asked on Radio National about Sonia Kruger’s fear of immigration by Muslims and call for a ban on Muslim migration, Seselja said, “We can’t pretend people don’t feel that fear but the prescription is not one the government supports.”
“We don’t have discrimination on the basis of religion when it comes to our immigration program, and nor should we.”
But Seselja said Kruger should not be demonised because she had “expressed how she feels”.
Asked whether Muslim Australians should be afraid of calls like one letter to the Australian calling for them to be interned in camps, Seselja said “we don’t have anything to fear – we live in one of the safest nations on Earth” and border security kept Australians safe.
“These debates are difficult, it’s reasonable that people feel unease. When we have debates about what inspires terrorism, [what inspires people] to go, as we saw in Nice, to slaughter dozens and dozens of innocent people, then of course there’s going to be fear.”
Quite right. But that solves nothing and all indications are that the angst will continue to grow.
