Politician lauds White Australia policy, urges Muslim ban
SYDNEY: An Australian politician was widely condemned yesterday after demanding “a final solution” to immigration and calling for a return to the White Australia policy that favoured “European Christians”.
Fraser Anning stunned lawmakers during his maiden speech to the Senate when he invoked the
Nazi phrase used under
Adolf Hitler in reference to annihilating
Jewish people from Europe.
He sparked anger by urg- ing a ban on
Muslim migrants and defending the race-based White Australia immigration policy that was in place for seven decades from 1901.
“We as a nation are entitled to insist that those who are allowed to come here predominantly reflect the historic European-Christian composition of Australian society,” Anning told the upper house late on Tuesday
“Those who come here need to assimilate and integrate.”
He called for immigrant numbers to be slashed, and for a ban on Muslims, justifying his call by saying they had “consistently shown to be the least able to assimilate and integrate.”
“While all Muslims are not terrorists, certainly all terrorists these days are Muslims, so why would anyone want to bring more of them here?”
He added: “The final solution to the immigration problem is of course a popular vote.”