It is refreshing to see the Australian Government growing a
pair & telling those who want a theocratic state under Sharia 
law that Australia is not for them, & it might be better if
they move (or "clear off").

I can't pretend to speak for anyone else, but I suspect that
many Australians would, like me, say "snap!". :)

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Get out if you want Sharia law, Australia tells Muslims

CANBERRA: Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told
on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted
radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks. A day after a
group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia at a
special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his ministers
made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown.

Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some
radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept 
that Australia was a secular state and its laws were made by parliament. 
"If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law 
or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you," he said on
national television. "I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that
there are two 
laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the
Islamic law, that that is false. If you can't agree with parliamentary law,
independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the
opportunity to go to another country which practises it, perhaps, then, 
that's a better option," Costello said.

Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave,
he said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked
move to the other country. Education Minister Brendan Nelson later
told reporters that Muslims who did not want to accept local values
should "clear off". "Basically, people who don't want to be
Australians, and they don't want to live by Australian values and
understand them, well then they can basically clear off," he said.
Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by
saying he supported spies monitoring the nation's mosques. 

agencies

                            -==-

Source: Pakistan "Daily Times"
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_25-8-2005_pg1_2


Cheers, Steve..

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