Just hours after the Christchurch attacks, Waleed Aly shared an impassioned monologue on The Project.
Admitting that he had struggled to find the words to speak about the attack, Aly called for unity among Australians and an end to racism and Islamophobia.
“Now, now we come together. Now we understand this is not a game. Terrorism doesn’t choose its victims selectively. We are one community,” he said.
“Everything we say to try to tear people apart, demonise particular groups, set them against each other; that all has consequences, even if we’re not the ones with our fingers on the trigger.”
During his speech, Aly also referenced a claim that Prime Minister Scott Morrison had encouraged the Coalition to gain more votes by stirring up anti-Muslim views back in 2011.
Just hours later, the news program received a “furious” call from the Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office.
It’s believed the Prime Minister was planning to sue the program for defamation.
Now, Waleed Aly and Scott Morrison have sat down for a heated interview.
During the interview, Aly questioned whether the Coalition government has an Islamophobia problem.
“Let me be perhaps more focused… does the Coalition have a problem with Islamophobia?” Aly asked.
Face Tape, Jaw Slings & Castor Oil: Do These Sleep Hacks Actually Work?
The Quicky
Top Comments
Morrison has finally admitted it.
He has been completely found out, and his behaviour during the interview was quite pedestrian. The LNP, News Corp/Sky/2GB, and conservative think-tanks have used fear-mongering and hate speech rhetoric for years for political gain. People are over the spin, crocodile tears, and revisionism.
We are a great country, we simply don't need this nonsense.
We hear reasonably often that the AFP have an extremist watch list of a few hundred Muslim Australians they're keeping an eye on.
Is that fear-mongering? Hate speech?
What about the 'diversity bollards' being installed in our major cities to stop people from driving over pedestrians. Fear-mongering? Hate Speech?
The truth is that we have problems in this country, and we need to be able to discuss them rationally and calmly without calling each other names and stoking fear and hatred towards any Australian, even those who have different opinions to us.
Well said james b
It is hate speech if officials specifically mention all the Muslims on the watch list, but leave off the part about all the non-Muslims on the same list. As for those bollards: white, non-Muslim men have murderously driven into pedestrians in Australia - but people commonly conflate it as a counter-Muslim terrorist move.
AFP watchlist and CBD bollards are responses to previous terrorist attacks.
An example of hate speech rhetoric is Morrison and Dutton claiming 300 refugees would collapse our health system via the Medevac Bill. This lie was repeated, even though Australia's population has increased by 2 Million people and yearly intake has increased to 190K under their watch. More so because we have 9 million tourists yearly.
I agree we do have problems in this country, they include both Islamic Extremism and the rise of Far-Right Extremism.
Civil discussion is important. You've been here long enough to know the sort of name calling that can occur during discussion, so I also urge you to call it out.