Andrews agenda was "anti-Islam’ | The Australian
FORMER immigration minister Kevin Andrews revealed the Howard government’s “hidden agendas” and hatred of Islam when he instructed his department to lift the intake of Christian refugees from the Middle East, according to one of the nation’s most senior Muslim leaders, Ameer Ali.
Dr Ali, who advised the Howard government on Islam, was yesterday joined by other Islamic figures in criticising Mr Andrews for also planning to sack local case officers at immigration posts in the Middle East who were allegedly corrupt and pro-Muslim.
Dr Ali accused the Coalition government of publicly working to bridge gaps between Muslim and mainstream Australia through initiatives such as the Islamic advisory board while secretly plotting to undermine the followers of Islam.
“The former government were playing a double game of typical political manoeuvring,” Dr Ali said in response to revelations on Saturday in The Weekend Australian that Mr Andrews instructed his department last year to focus on boosting the number of Christian Iraqi refugees.
“They were trying to show a good face to the public that they are fair to the Muslims, but behind the scenes they had a hidden agenda.”
Dr Ali said Mr Andrews’s instructions to his department were unfair to Muslims and went “against the democratic principles of any decent government”.
Australia’s most senior female Muslim, Aziza Abdel-Halim, who also advised the Howard regime on Islamic issues, accused Mr Andrews of racism.
“There was definite prejudice against Muslims by the previous government and it was not a balanced policy in immigration or anything - it’s really disgusting,” she said.
In a letter to John Howard last August, Mr Andrews said his $200million plan to replace local employees with Australian staff in 10 “sensitive” countries such as Jordan, Iran and Egypt, was in response to alleged corruption and religious discrimination against certain groups of refugees.
Mr Andrews said in his letter that the proposed overhaul of immigration posts in the Middle East and several non-Muslim countries such as China and Russia was designed to address national security risks.
Mr Andrews was petitioned by the Australian Christian Lobby and numerous Arabic Christian groups, which believed that non-Muslim Iraqi refugees were unfairly dealt with by local staff at Australian embassies in the Middle East.
Although the Immigration Department could not substantiate the allegation of religious bias, Mr Andrews dismissed its findings and almost doubled the Christian Iraqi refugee intake for 2007-08.
The plan to address local staffing issues in the Middle East remains Coalition policy.
Sister Abdel-Halim, president of the Muslim Women’s National Network of Australia, said some of the groups that raised the alleged religious discrimination had exploited the former government’s anti-Islamic sentiments.
“People were really trying to play on prejudice issues to get priority and to get more of their community coming to Australia,” she said.
“I’ve heard the allegations of Christian refugees not getting a fair treatment in the Middle East, but they are not true.”