Scott Morrison plans to sue Waleed Aly and Channel Ten
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office has threatened Channel Ten and Waleed Aly with legal action over Aly’s response to the Christchurch terror attacks.
In the segment airing on The Project, Aly referred specifically to a 2010 cabinet meeting in which Morrison reportedly suggested using anti-Muslim community sentiment for political gain.
“I also know a senior figure in our government once suggested we made a mistake as a country by letting in Lebanese Muslims in the ’70s,” Aly said.
“And I know there are media reports going back eight years at a shadow cabinet meeting in which another senior politician suggested his party should use community concerns about Muslims in Australia failing to integrate as a political strategy. That person is now the most senior politician we have.”
It's these words that caused Morrison’s office to demand an apology and issue a warning of defamation risk.
However, the video has not been taken down from Facebook, where it has been viewed more than 8 million times.
The New Daily spoke to five former members of shadow cabinet, including Peter Dutton and Greg Hunt, who insist Morrison didn’t encourage the Liberals to exploit anti-Muslim sentiment.
Foreign Minister Marie Payne has refused to endorse Dutton’s previous remarks that Australia made a “mistake” with a Lebanese immigration program in the 1970’s.
She told The New Daily:
“I am not going to go into a series of adjudications on statements made by my colleagues or anyone else at this time. We are dealing with a very serious situation here,” Senator Payne said.
“But we should also always be careful about the language that we use. Politicians and the media, in particular, have positions of … great responsibility.”
Do you think Waleed’s comments were defamatory? Let us know in the comments below.