PM slams Hanson for pushing ban

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned against “dangerous” comments inciting hatred after Senator Pauline Hanson’s appeal on Thursday for Australians to pray for a Muslim ban.

The PM warned comments such as the One Nation leader’s in the wake of the deadly terror attack in London only benefited terrorists seeking to radicalise Australians.

He said it was a “classic” terrorist strategy to turn a nation against itself.

Having emphasised the right to free speech after introducing changes to the Racial Discrimination Act earlier this week, Mr Turnbull told 3AW radio yesterday: “Inciting hatred against any part of the Australian community is always dangerous. It undermines the mutual respect that we have.

“Free speech is very important ... but we’ve got to be very clear about this – if you seek to attribute to all Australian Muslims or all Muslims responsibility for the crimes of ISIL, then you are doing what ISIL wants.”

Earlier, Treasurer Scott Morrison called Ms Hanson’s “knee-jerk” response “irresponsible” and “reckless”.

Ms Hanson had urged Australians to back her proposal for a ban on Muslim immigration and slammed London Mayor Sadiq Khan for saying attacks were inevitable in a big city.

While others joined a wave of support for the British, tweeting #prayforLondon and #WeAreNotAfraid, she introduced her own hashtag.

“It’s #Pray4Muslimban. Put a ban on it, that’s how you solve the problem, and then let’s deal with the issues here,” she said. “(We need to) make sure that we do not have this religion, which is really an ideology that is going to eventually cause so much havoc on our streets, not only for ourselves, but for future generations.”