We'll probably both be branded Islamophobic, but here's her article, without the photos of burkhas.
Peta Credlin: Muslim polygamy bedded down by PC bureaucrats
I LIKE to think growing up in a small country town gave me a good grounding in the fundamentals because Middle Australia is a place where commonsense is still (thankfully) common, people work hard, right is right and wrong is wrong.
I used to think everywhere else was the same too but 16 years working in politics threw that idea out the window.
Not only are we fast becoming a nation where a small few like to lecture the majority, we’re also being taken for a ride by a growing number of people who exploit the benefits and goodwill of the very country they might live in, but refuse to join.
Worse still, when anyone tries to call this out as not being “the Australian way”, they’re branded “unAustralian”, told they’re racist, intolerant or worse.
Moutia Elzahed has refused to take her burqa off to give evidence in a court case.
I always thought that the great battles in human rights were fought around the inalienable principle that we’re all equal regardless of race, gender, class or sexuality.
Yet now, in this age of identity politics, your “difference” is what matters rather than your common humanity.
Take the case this week of Moutia Elzahed, who is suing police for alleged brutality resulting from counter-terrorism raids that took place in Sydney in 2014. This court case alone is a case study in how far we have gone down the path of junking the very foundations our society was built on.
In court this week, Mrs Elzahed (and we’ll get to the “Mrs” in a moment) refused to take off her full-face veil to give evidence despite the fact she had initiated the legal action.
The judge hearing the case, NSW District Court Justice Audrey Balla, offered other options for her to give evidence in a more private setting but all required her face to be shown because, rightly, Balla affirmed the long-held principle that facial expressions are a key tool used by the court in assessing the truthfulness of a witness’ testimony.
Despite the concessions, Moutia Elzahed still refused to remove her veil and also refused to stand when the judge entered the room because, as her legal counsel explained, she stood only for Allah.
Yes, you’ve got it right; Moutia Elzahed was trying to make use of the very legal system she refused to respect. Justice Balla made it crystal clear she wouldn’t tolerate disrespect in her court and she was backed up by the NSW Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton.
Moutia Elzahed is not a lone case of courtroom disrespect. Things have got so bad in NSW that they passed a special law a year or so ago to deal with the growing numbers of Muslim men (and now women) refusing to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the court and show necessary respect to the bench.
Frankly, it’s ridiculous that these extremists have been allowed to get away with this nonsense until now. Sadly, unlike Justice Balla, most of the judges have let it go which is why a special law was passed.
Despite this repeated bad behaviour, most of the media — like the judges — turned a blind eye to the issue. You’ve got to wonder whether this leniency and lack of reporting would have extended to others treating the court with contempt or whether it was a special concession because they were Muslim, lest anyone brand them “Islamophobic”?
But it gets worse. Go and look for it yourself, but buried in articles reporting Moutia Elzahed’s case is a reference to the fact that she is “one of the two wives” of convicted Islamic State terrorism recruiter, Hamdi Alqudsi.
Convicted IS recruiter Hamdi Alqudsi has two wives.
Yes, you’ve got it right again; not ex-wife, not former wife but “one of two wives”.
How is it that a line like that passes by most in our media class without comment? This is hardly how we expect women in this country to be treated — where’s the women’s outrage lobby now?
Many Islamic marriages are, for legal purposes, de facto relationships because they are religious ceremonies rather than official marriages. But Australian law clearly says marriage can only be a union between one man and one woman.
Hamdi Alqudsi found guilty of sending men to Syria
Sadly, this is not the first time I have seen reference to “wives” plural. A few years ago I was in a meeting in Canberra discussing budget reform when our conversation moved to the area of rorts within the welfare sector and family payments specifically; after all, we spend billions every year supporting people with children.
Slipped into this briefing was acknowledgment by the public service of cases where it was likely that payments were being provided to families living under one roof with multiple wives. I thought I must have heard it wrong. So I followed up again.
No, I got it right the first time. I was informed that it was probably better for the taxpayer anyway because if one wife had to be paid separately she would receive additional support as a single parent.
I couldn’t believe what I was told. If it was true, I said, we were accepting as a principle in welfare policy something that was fundamentally wrong — both at law and in our culture — pure and simple.
No one really disagreed but as is so often the case in Canberra, it was someone else’s problem and they took a few notes.
Straight after the meeting, I raised it with the then prime minister, who found it just as difficult to believe as I did.
He said regardless of the budget argument put forward by the public servants, the principle was paramount. He demanded more details and action but the leadership change came … and the rest is history.
The reporting of the Moutia Elzahed case reminded me of this debate. Worse, it reminded me that there are just too many places where we are turning a blind eye to changes in our Australian culture that go against the grain of who we are, and what it is that makes this country one of the best on earth.
Despite the concerted efforts of those who want to define us by our differences, who we are as a people is just as important as who we are as individuals. And wanting to protect what we have is something to be proud of, not shut down.
I hope Canberra is listening.
