Regular readers of this column will be aware that I have had my disagreements with Bob Katter from time to time.
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And I certainly don’t agree with his comments in Cairns the other day while defending Senator Fraser Anning’s maiden speech calling for immigration policies favouring "European Christian" values and banning Muslims.
Nonetheless the ferocity of the media and political outrage over Mr Katter’s reply surprised me in a way that his actual speech did not.
Anyone who actually listens to Mr Katter, as opposed to just following his antics, will know that his position on immigration has been consistent for a number of years.
His regular column in this paper has been forthright in those calls for a ban on Muslim immigration.
Indeed it is this very view that attracted Fraser Anning to the Katter’s Australian Party when he quit Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
So calls from federal and state politicians for Mr Katter to drop Senator Anning are likely to fall on deaf ears and instead I fully expect Mr Katter to double down on his beliefs, something he knows he shares with many people, particularly in rural and regional areas.
As I said at the outset I do not agree. Australia benefits from immigration of all kinds and the overwhelming majority of Muslims here have become proud law-abiding Australians. Just this week Mehreen Faruqi is about to become our first Muslim female senator and I have no doubt she will be working hard to change Senator Anning’s views.
Because that’s what needs to happen – people working quietly behind the scenes to convince by force of words and actions – not stoking up the outrage-meter while backing opponents into a corner where they only become more hostile.
It works both ways. Those in the Muslim community who might be tempted into a path of extremism need to be shown we are a welcoming, friendly and egalitarian nation that only wants its members to contribute.
Harking back to the days of White Australia won’t cut it, but dismissing the fears of the present is equally misguided. We must find our way back to the centre – Derek Barry