Ray Hadley has slammed Pauline Hanson for her recent comments about Islam, demanding an apology to the “vast majority of Australian Muslims” after she said Muslims “hate Westerners” and that Islam “concerns her” during a Sky News interview on Monday night.
“At pains to say not all conservatives think like Pauline Hanson, what Pauline said was just wrong – really wrong,” Hadley said. “Sometimes she gets so wound up, like a spring, and she says things that she shouldn’t say. The fact that she’s empowered by the polls, she thinks she’s gotta keep driving that wedge, and I think she’s wrong.”
Hadley also stressed the need to welcome the right people to Australia. “We don’t want the wrong people coming here. We want good people coming here, and in the main, we do get good people,” he said.
The remarks came after Senator Hanson appeared on Sky News with Sharri Markson, where she warned that continued Muslim immigration would cause Australia to “suffer as other countries have like France and Denmark, England and Canada”. She added, “I’ve got no time for the radical Islam, their religion concerns me because what it says in the Quran… You say there’s great Muslims out there, well I’m sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?”
Markson, visibly taken aback, attempted to rebut. “There are a lot of moderate Muslims in Australia who are, as you put it, good Muslims,” she said. “I think we can agree that radical extremist Islam that doesn’t support Australian values has no place here.”
Following the interview, Markson made her position clear. “As an Australian Jew, I don’t support what she just said. Of course I believe the vast majority of Australian Muslims do have a place in Australia and they should be here. It’s just a vocal minority that support radical Islam, extremist Islam, that are causing problems.”
Markson also shared an anecdote about an Australian Muslim Uber driver she met while reporting on the Bondi massacre. He ran to help victims and continued attending weekly vigils to mourn alongside the Jewish community. “This is just one example of someone who doesn’t share the values of extremist Islam,” she said.
Hadley agreed: “He’s in the majority.”
Images: Sky News
