Naturally, The Government Is Making The Bourke Street Attack About Immigration And Religion

The government’s had a lot to say about the Bourke Street attack last Friday, and yeah, it’s all about immigration and religion.

While Melbourne’s busy mourning and doing nice things for the man who tried to stop the attack with a trolley, the government’s spent the aftermath of the attack blaming radical Islam, talking about tightening immigration laws, and implying that somehow, this was the fault of Muslim community leaders. Just like the government does every time something like this happens, regardless of whether it fits the facts.

See for example our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, who said today that the attacker’s mental health issues were a “lame excuse”, and that the Muslim community in Australia needs to be more “proactive” in preventing terrorism. Morrison doubled down on his comments on Studio 10 today, insisting that the need for Muslim leaders to do more to prevent attacks is “the elephant in the room, and you’ve got to acknowledge it”.

“Imams and others who are the leaders in their religious communities need to be looking carefully about who’s coming into their community, who’s talking to their kids, who’s at the back of the mosque and walking out with some young person who seems a bit disenfranchised,” he said, as if the problem here is seriously just a few religious leaders not paying attention to the obviously shady characters right in front of them.

Our Prime Minister said all of this after the Bourke Street attacker’s family released a statement to media describing his struggle with mental illness, and pleading with politicians and the media to “please stop turning this into a political game, this isn’t a guy who had any connections with terrorism, but was simply crying for help”. People who knew the attacker have described him as having substance abuse problems, and said he was recently suffering from delusions that he was being chased by people with spears.

And then there’s Peter Dutton, who didn’t just back Scott Morrison’s bullshit, but also came out to say that Australia needs to take a look at its immigration policies following the attack, “because there are some people should not go on to become Australian citizens”.

I have concerns about Peter Dutton’s conduct. Who do I call? https://t.co/O6ou6RuEAQ

— PuttheLiberalsLast (@FionaGillen2013) November 11, 2018

Dutton also criticised Labor MP and globally respected counterterrorism expert Anne Aly for trying to “deny there’s a problem”. What Aly actually said was that given that the investigation into the attack is still ongoing, and there’s no clear evidence so far that the attack actually had anything to do with Islam, that maybe Scott Morrison should stop saying the shit he’s saying.

“It’s important we don’t use language that will divide the community, as opposed to singling out groups and religions,” is how she put it. Let’s maybe listen to the actual counter-terrorism expert instead of the government on this one.