A Muslim community leader has accused Tony Abbott of using the citizenship discussion like the “reds under the bed” communist debate of the 1950s in order to win the next election.
Silma Ihram, of the Australian Muslim Women’s Association, has also warned that some Muslim Australians could end up like the Rohingya people of Burma, left stateless or “shipped off to Cambodia”.
She has joined the growing chorus of criticism by some government ministers and backbenchers, legal experts and community groups, over attempts to increase executive powers to revoke citizenship of suspected terrorists.
Ihram told Guardian Australia that some Australian Muslims feel “numbed by the progress and speed of the government” on national security laws, such as the measure to strip the Australian citizenship from dual nationals suspected of terrorist offences on the approval of the minister rather than the courts.
Ihram was also critical of Labor, after Bill Shorten agreed “in principle” with the bill which has yet to be released but is expected to come before the parliament in the next fortnight.
Ihram, a former Islamic school principal, said in her experience the Coalition’s handling of the national security measures had soured relations between the government and the Muslim community.
She said allowing citizenship to be stripped at the minister’s discretion was a great concern, given the government’s “heartless” response to the plight of the Rohingya refugees.
“Some members of Muslim community [in Australia] could end up like Rohingya –stateless ... we could be the next lot shipped over to Cambodia,” Ihram said.
“What the government is doing is to make this whole scenario of fear. Yes we have potential for [a terrorist] problem, no one is denying that. But the debate is had like the ‘reds under the bed’ so that [Abbott] can come out with solution and be voted back in.”
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