أستراليا: سياسي يرفض توفير حاجات المسلمين بأموال الدولة

- خبر من مصادر إنجليزية.

أعرب "جامي كافانو" - عضو "حزب كاتر" بمدينة "سيدني" الأسترالية - عن رفضه لقيام الدولة بتوفير اللحوم الحلال للمسلمين وتوفير اللحوم غير الحلال لغيرهم؛ حتى لا تذهب أموال الدولة في تلبية حاجات المسلمين.

وقد أثارت تلك التصريحات حالة واسعة من الاستنكار، خاصةً بعد أقل من أسبوعين على الاعتراضات المحلية ضد مشروع توفير وحدات سكنية من خلال معاملات مالية لا تتضمن الفوائد الربوية، وهو ما عُرف بـ"الإسكان الحلال"، والذي استغله البعض للتخويف من خلق منطقة إسلامية مخصصة.

كما دعا "جامي" الشعب الأسترالي إلى التوقيع على عريضة للمطالبة برفض مقترح رئيسة الوزراء "جوليا جيلرد" المتعلق بتحويل اسم "يوم أستراليا الوطني" إلى "يوم التآلف الوطني"، مشيرًا إلى موافقة المجتمع الإسلامي على هذا المقترح، وأن هذا سبب رفضه؛ المصدر: شبكة الألوكة.

يرجى الإشارة إلى المصدر عند نقل الخبر - شبكة الألوكة.

الخبر من مصدره الأصلي:

Katter candidate's halal post sparks new storm

A candidate for Bob Katter's fledgling political party declared his preference for buying ''guaranteed non-halal meat'' so his money does not ''go to the Muslim community''.

Jamie Cavanough, who is standing for Katter's Australian Party in Sydney's most marginal federal seat, Greenway, is under fire for the apparently divisive comments he made to a community forum in one of the city's most ethnically diverse areas.

Katter's Australian Party played down the comments on Friday, describing them as a non-issue.

Some Australians want crunchy peanut butter, others want smooth peanut butter, some Australians want halal meat and some want non-halal meat – these are the great freedoms we enjoy in this country," the party's national director Aidan McLindon told Fairfax Media.

Mr Cavanough's comments emerged a day after a Katter candidate in Victoria, Tess Corbett, sparked outrage by likening homosexuals to paedophiles, saying they should be kept out of the classroom. She was then backed up by potential Queensland candidate Bernard Gaynor. Ms Corbett has since quit her candidacy and Mr Gaynor has been sidelined.

Mr Gaynor, who was suspended from the party on Thursday following comments about gay teachers and abortion, complained of double standards.

He said on Friday he would fight his suspension as other candidates or nominees had expressed personal opinions and not faced consequences.

''I might add, I support these comments from Jamie Cavanough, as I know many in the party do,'' he said in a statement issued on Friday afternoon.

''More importantly, I support the freedom for all Australians to express their opinion.''

Mr Cavanough made his comments on Saturday, less than a fortnight after controversy in the Greenway community over plans for a supposed Muslim enclave, dubbed ''Halal housing'', in Riverstone.

Mr Cavanough posted on the Riverstone Community Group forum, which has 732 members on Facebook: ''Can anyone advise me where I can buy Guaranteed NON halal lamb for Australia day.''

And in a separate post, Mr Cavanough called on people to sign a petition against a supposed plan by the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to scrap the name Australia Day in favour of Harmony Day, saying ''the Muslim church is in favour of this''. The Prime Minister's office confirmed there was no such proposal.

Mr Cavanough told Fairfax Media he was simply looking for a better deal on meat and his comments were not racially motivated.

''In my view, and it's not the view of any party, I want to be able to purchase a product that has not been faced to a god that I don't believe in and blessed,'' he said.

''Every time something is deemed halal they pay for the right. I have no problem with Muslims; I breed sheep and cattle and sell them to Muslims. I don't care what they do with them, I was just simply asking where I can purchase [non-halal meat].''