George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to express my utter disgust in the book by convicted terrorist David Hicks being short-listed in the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards. Hicks was not a man who took an overseas holiday and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time; he was exactly where he wanted to be. He knew where he was and he knew what he was doing.

Hicks converted to Islam and joined the Lashkar-e-Taiba, or 'army of the righteous'. He trained in weapons, landmines, basic explosives, marksmanship and ambush. They are not holiday pursuits. He was associating with the likes of Osama bin Laden, whom he met at least eight times. During his training with al-Qaeda, he was interviewed about his willingness to go on a martyr mission. Maybe the Premier of Queensland should have read the first book by David Hicks, his travel diary. He kept a journal. He wrote that he was trained to carry out armed raids and ambushes. He described how to gun down a six-strong security detail. He wrote that Satan was aligned with western society, which is full of poison introduced by Jews. 'Muslims fight against Jews and they kill them', he wrote.

The Premier tries to justify her book nomination by saying that in her view it is a reaffirmation of values, which distinguish us from the terrorists. No, it is not, Premier: it is the Premier giving affirmation to a book by someone who sided with an enemy on the day that an Australian soldier was killed in the country where that mongrel went.

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