MP agrees to address anti- Islam protest
DAWSON MP George Christensen will speak at an antiIslam protest in Mackay on Sunday.
The rally is one of a series of Reclaim Australia protests taking place across the country, including Townsville, over the weekend.
Mr Christensen said he decided to speak at the rally because he agreed with many of the group’s ideals, including the right to exile terrorists.
He said he was not antiIslam but that he was against extremism.
“I don’t agree with the skinheads and the neo- Nazis,” he said.
“They’ve got nothing to do with what I’m saying.”
Mr Christensen said while every rally had extremists, they did not represent the overall mindset of participants.
“There were people in the opposite rally who burnt the Australian flag,” he said.
Herbert MP Ewen Jones distanced himself from Mr Christensen’s decision, saying he didn’t know the full circumstances.
“George is a very good friend of mine but we are very, very different people,” he said.
“I would never speak at a Reclaim Australia rally.
“I believe that whatever people bring to this country, that they add to it, they add dimension and texture and flavour to it.”
Organiser of the Townsville rally, Kim Vuga, stars in an upcoming SBS documentary Go Back to Where You Came From and said her trip to the Middle East during filming only cemented her views.
“That’s why I’m so passionate about the rally,” she said.
“While we have peaceful, loving Muslims in our country, the problem is with Islam itself.
“We were the silent majority, now we’re getting noisy.”