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| Jan 22, 2007 6:15 am |
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Explain sheik's citizenship: PM to Iemma |
Steven Dias
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Explain sheik's citizenship: PM to Iemma
Monday Jan 22 15:39 AEDT
Prime Minister John Howard has challenged NSW Premier Morris Iemma to explain why the NSW Labor Right worked to ensure that Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali became an Australian citizen.
The controversial Islamic cleric has floated the idea of running a candidate against Mr Iemma in his seat of Lakemba, just days after the sheik drew criticism for his comments on Egyptian television that Australians were liars and that Muslims were more entitled to live in Australia than Anglo-Saxons sent as convicts in chains.
It follows the stir he caused last year when he compared immodestly dressed women to "uncovered meat".
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Mr Howard said it was Labor's fault that the sheik was now an Australian citizen.
"Perhaps Mr Iemma could explain to the Australian people why the Labor Party in western Sydney applied the pressure it did in the 1990s to make sure Sheik Alhilali became an Australian citizen," he told reporters.
"Everyone knows that the pressure from the NSW Right, of which Mr Iemma is a member, from (former prime minister Paul) Keating to Mr (former Speaker Leo) McLeay overturned the view of the then Labor immigration minister Chris Hurford, that Sheik (Alhilali) not - because of his anti-semitic statements - be given Australian citizenship.
"He is an Australian citizen now because of the NSW's Right of the Labor Party, because of the actions of Mr Keating and Mr McLeay and others, with whom Mr Iemma has been closely aligned."
Writing in The Australian newspaper last year, Mr Hurford said that after becoming immigration minister in 1985 he refused to renew Sheik Alhilali's temporary visa, which had already been renewed a number of times, or grant him permanent residency.
However, then treasurer Paul Keating, former Speaker Leo McLeay, who both had seats in western Sydney, and former Labor senator John Button were reportedly among a number of government ministers who were behind a push to help the sheik become an Australian.
According to News Ltd, former Labor immigration minister Gerry Hand finally succumbed in 1990 and granted the sheik permanent residency under the watch of Mr Keating, who was acting prime minister at the time.
İAAP 2007 Private Reply to Steven Dias (new win) |
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