‘This has to stop’: mayor calls on Hanson to visit area
A mayor is urging Pauline Hanson to visit her community during Ramadan after the senator claimed area suburbs were unsafe due to their Muslim population.
The One Nation leader was widely condemned for his comments in an interview on Monday, saying he was “not a good Muslim”.
In an interview on Wednesday, he said he walked back parts of his remarks but also dismissed criticism, saying suburbs such as Lakemba in Sydney’s west were unsafe because of Muslim residents.
“I’m very concerned that people can’t go to certain suburbs in this country anymore… they don’t want to go to certain suburbs and I went to Lakemba, you’re not welcome,” he told ABC TV.
Canterbury Bankstown Council mayor Bilal El-Hayek, who represents the area in Lakemba, said Senator Hanson’s comments were divisive at a time when unity was needed in society.
“Lakemba is no different to any other suburb or shopping area and there is no crime problem in Lakemba,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB.
“This needs to stop, it really needs to stop because we need to come together at a time when the country is suffering.”
The latest census showed 61 per cent of Lakemba residents are Muslim and the suburb has popular food markets on Ramadan nights.
Mr. El-Hayek said he invited Senator Hanson to the markets, which begin on Thursday.
“We’re getting over a million people, the majority of whom are not actually of the Islamic faith,” he said.
“It’s a shame to see people playing politics at a time when we should be coming together.”
When pressed about his comments on Wednesday, the Queensland senator backtracked on his comments that there are no good Muslims.
“No, I don’t really believe that,” she told ABC TV, adding that a non-practising Muslim woman was running for office for One Nation.
“If I have offended anyone who does not believe in sharia law or multiple marriages and wants to bring in ISIS brides or Gazans who believe in the caliphate… then I apologize to you for my comment.
“But overall that’s what they want: a world caliphate, and I won’t apologize.”
Racial discrimination commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman also joined calls for the senator to apologize.
“Public figures have a responsibility to elevate our national dialogue, not inflame tensions, divide us, or undermine the dignity of others,” he said.
Australian National Council of Imams President Shadi Alsuleiman strongly rejected the fiery senator’s previous comments, saying they reflected a serious misunderstanding of Islam and the Muslim community.
“He has made false and harmful statements based on misinformation rather than actual interaction over many years,” he told AAP.
Senator Hanson rejected criticism from Islamic groups.
“Of course they will say that, but I have heard more hateful things coming out of the mouths of imams preaching on the streets of Sydney and other parts of Australia, but nothing has been said about it,” he said.
Senator Hanson used his maiden speech to the Senate in 2016 to claim that Australia was “overrun by Muslims”; This was a repeat of a speech he made to the lower house of parliament in 1996 about Australia being “overrun by Asians”.
She was recently widely condemned for wearing a burqa in the senate.
One Nation is outperforming the coalition in recent polls; The latest Gazette poll shows the party with 27 per cent of the primary vote compared to the opposition’s 18 per cent.
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