Tony Burke has proven the proverb.
The only standards the current leftwing lineup has are double standards.
Labor’s immigration minister has pulled the plug on Candace Owens’ November speaking tour of Australia, two months after opening a door for 3,000 unvetted pro-Hamas Gazans.
At the time, Burke slammed opposition criticism, labelling security concerns, “racist,” saying, “All should feel welcome.”
During the reply to Teal’s Zali Steggall, Burke spun diversity is our strength as “better together,” then celebrated the “framework” of multiculturalism, and its “emerging communities.”
At the conclusion of his brief speech, Burke asserted his support for Australia’s extreme 18C anti-discrimination amendment, stating, “Words can be bullets.
“What might seem like a great way for some people to get a headline, none of us should underestimate the harm it does.
“Not just to those individuals (Gazans), but the fabric of the nation.”
The dissonance between Burke putting the boot into Owens’ right to free speech, and his rhetoric on the rights of Israel-hating Islamist “refugees,” screams preferential treatment.
Put simply:
Burke appears to be okay with importing Hamas’s “river to the sea,” “gas the Jews” jihad, genocidal rants, and not okay with a black woman who speaks her mind.
If Candace Owens’ words are “bullets,” Hamas’ October 7 Islamic attack on Israel was a picnic.
The same criticism could be applied to the CEO of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Alon Cassuto – I say this as someone who condemns October 7, and defends Israel’s right to exist.
Cassuto’s short-sighted agreement with Burke’s cancellation of Candace is on the grounds he’s “stopping hate speech, not stopping free speech.”
Which really means, speech both Burke’s Muslim constituents, and Cassuto’s Jewish subscribers don’t like.
Instead of banning Candace, Burke should probably be nominating her for the Nobel Peace Prize.
She appears to have done the impossible and united Israelis and Palestinians around a common cause: gagging a black mother of three because “racism!”
After all, “diversity is our strength, debate-is-hate, men can have a penis, abortion is healthcare,” and any criticism should be dismissed as “homophobia,” “Islamophobia” and/or “antisemitism.”
Burke’s ban was tabled in early September, with even Sky News’ Andrew Bolt, supporting the idea.
Owens replied by pointing out the double standard, saying, the immigration minister wasn’t cancelling the visas of violent rappers.
Burke has defended cancelling Candace’s visa by arguing that she has “capacity to incite discord in almost every direction.”
Criticising the immigration minister’s decision, Free Speech Union of Australia described the reasoning as “rubbish,” adding, “There are many controversial views and speakers out there.
“The way to sort the good ideas from bad, the true from the false, is through open discussion and debate, not censorship.”
On X other commentators honed in on the double standard.
Dr. Stephen Chavura also spoke out, calling the decision “despicable.”
“Owens’ fans have not been on the streets chanting death to Israel and Jews.
“As for a threat to Muslims? – this effectively means that anyone who criticises Islam and Islamic immigration is no longer permitted into Australia,” he argued.
“How long will it be before such speech is criminalised?”
In a separate video, Dr. Chavura added, “Who’s out there teaching Australian kids to hate Jews? It’s not Candace Owen’s fans.
“We are becoming a leftist, technocratic tyranny with the weaponisation of ‘misinformation.’”
Responding to Burke’s ruling, the Libertarian Party’s Ross Cameron remarked,
“Can’t help feeling a kind of dissonance in the willingness to give citizenship to 3,000 Hamas supporting Gaza refugees – most of whom celebrated the murder of Israeli Jews – while rejecting a visitor visa for one peaceful American Christian.”
Burke’s justifications for cancelling Owens, alongside his “multicultural” defence about importing Christian-hating Islamists hell-bent on destroying Israel, offer evidence of the Left’s fractured, and failing political philosophy.
Labor’s agenda isn’t designed to serve a unified Australia, their agenda is designed to serve the interests of the Australian Labor Party.
The consequence of not realising that multiculturalism has failed will be a splintered Australia, ruled by sectarian groups pushing their own nationality.
Australia as a nation cannot survive what multiculturalism allows.
Neither will Australia’s multiethnic, socially cohesive, and Christ-centred classical liberal national identity.
There is no unity in a house divided against itself.
Why did Burke rule against Candace?
Labor needs to keep Islam on its side because Islam – a political ideology masquerading as the second revelation of God – makes up a large part of Labor’s constituency.
I don’t agree with a lot of what Candace Owens has said recently.
This said, I 100% support her right to speak freely.
Burqa Burke’s decision was political expediency.
Cancelling Candace is about convenience, little else.
