O'Farrell Shamefull Attack on Moselmane‏

There is no connection between the Hon. Moslmane speech on the war on Iraq and Desmond Tutu's call for prosecuting Blair and Bush and the Sydney protest. Mr. O'Farrel shamefully wanted to tarnish the stance that the Hon. Moslmane  have taken on the Protest and to try to make him look like part of the problem. He effectively paints him as part of the extremists out there.

Mr. O'farrel: I was disturbed to read that 13 days ago, in the other place, a member of the Labor Party sought to bring those hatreds into this Parliament when the Hon. Shaoquett Moselmane raised in the Upper House the issue of the Iraq War and urged that George Bush and Tony Blair should be tried as war criminals. That is the sort of hatred and tension that leads to these situations, and it ought to be condemned by every member opposite. This is not the Federal Parliament; this is not a place to discuss foreign affairs—as much as the member for Liverpool would like it to be. We should be doing all we can as citizens of this State and as representatives of this State to ensure that the harmony that exists in this State is retained. Speeches like that of the Hon. Shaoquett Moselmane do completely and utterly the opposite. A right to protest does exist in this country but it comes with a responsibility to do so peacefully and in accordance with the law. Any repeat of last Saturday's events will be strongly met by a police response. Police know they have the full support of this Government to deal with violent protest wherever it occurs across the State and with whoever is responsible. The events of Saturday were a blight upon this city, and they must not be allowed to be repeated. With the efforts of the police those responsible will be brought to justice