Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Attended by an estimated 100 people, the demonstration was repellent to Australians and repellent to just about all Australians of Islamic faith. One hundred people is a fraction of the estimated half a million Muslim Australians. Yesterday I branded the demonstration the work of provocateurs who want hatred and extremism in the air. They want to grab attention, they want broken bones, they want a clash of culture, they want a clash of civilisations. Their goal is to push us to the edge. They seek to blame the United States, President Obama and his ambassadors for a lousy propaganda film, the work of a lone nutter.

Yesterday I said 99.9 per cent of Australian Muslims were chilled to the bone by the grotesque images and rhetoric of this demonstration and they have spoken out and condemned it. Ms Shereen Hassan, spokeswoman of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said:

While it is abhorrent that individuals should disrespect Prophet Mohammed, it is even more abhorrent that Muslims should defile his peaceful teachings by acting in such a vile manner.

Signs at the protest invoked beheading. Frankly, if you believe in be heading, then you will probably never be happy living in Australia. As the minister for immigration said today, people convicted for violence at this demonstration who fail the character test should be deported from this country. Invoking beheading and putting such signs in the hands of children is a condemnation on its own. I have spoken to Islamic leaders today and congratulated them for their forthright utterances condemning this. This is a conflict within the world of Islam, and we have an interest in encouraging the moderates in this country—Islamic Australians, proud of their faith and proud of their heritage—to be committed to this Australia and its future and reject such repellent extremism. (Time expired)