John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

My attention has been drawn to the website of the Australian Democrats. The material I am about to refer to was extant on the website at a quarter to three this afternoon and contained, under the heading generally of ‘God and government’, the rather extraordinary statement ‘the Prime Minister says Australia is a secular country and immigrants who don’t share Christian values should leave’. I have said this is a secular country, in the sense that we observe in our politics a secular tradition, whatever our own individual beliefs may be—and I support that position very strongly—but I have never said that immigrants who do not share Christian values should leave. I ask the Democrats to take it off their website.

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