Outspoken Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has stayed true to form by making some outlandish comments regarding the link between refugees and terrorism in an interview with ABC Radio. Initially announcing she wanted to have a serious discussion, as expected, the interview quickly devolved into the absurd.
In response to the terror attacks in Paris, and Australia’s intake of 12,000 Syrian refugees, Senator Lambie seemed to make the suggestion that refugees coming into Australia should be made to wear electronic monitoring bracelets. In particular, she mentioned the Grand Mufti Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, who is yet to publicly condemn the Paris attacks.
She also added that asking one simple question would appropriately vet any potential problem candidates.
“A key test of whether people are worthy of our compassion and are suitable for Australian citizenship will be their opposition to Sharia or terrorist law,” she said.
Perhaps not realising that real terrorists might not simply give themselves up when asked this question, she insisted it was an important question that needed to be put forward, before launching into her bizarre theory of how best to deal with the Syrian refugees entering the country.
“No one’s talked putting security, electronic bracelets on them, nobody’s gone that far, I think it’s about time we put our foot down here,” she said.
“Maybe the first person that should have an electronic device put on them is the bloody Grand Mufti.”
Lambie said the refugee vetting process had not only failed in France, but also other Western cultures, including Australia, and must be fixed. The senator said that this failure was the reason “why we’re having attacks going on everywhere”.
Senator Lambie also posed a question on Facebook on Tuesday, asking: “Do you think Australia should still take 12,000 refugees from Syria? Vote yes or no." The status has over 1300 shares and 11,000 comments at the time of posting, with a very mixed reaction - in light of this, the public response to Lambie's most recent controversial comments will certainly be something to watch.
