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6th March 2004
Muslim MPs a bad thing, says pastor
By Barney Zwartz
Religion Editor
March 6, 2004
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/05/1078464637074.html

Muslim members of Parliament would not be good for Australia, a Christian pastor told the tribunal hearing Victoria's first religious hatred case yesterday.

Catch the Fire pastor Danny Nalliah agreed that he had written that English Muslims had cleverly infiltrated Parliament, and that they had an ulterior motive - to spy on Western governments.

Pastor Nalliah was being cross-examined in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal about a newsletter he wrote in 2002.

The Islamic Council of Victoria has complained that Catch the Fire Ministries, Pastor Nalliah and speaker Daniel Scot vilified Muslims in a seminar on March 9, 2002, in the newsletter and in a website article.

Asked if Muslims should not be MPs, Pastor Nalliah said: "Not necessarily. But Muslims with ideologies I know of, if they are in Parliament it is not good for us."

Islamic Council barrister Debbie Mortimer asked if that meant people like council president Yasser Soliman had ulterior motives.

Pastor Nalliah replied: "He is like the receptionist in a company who smiles at the people who come. I notice not one imam has come to give evidence."

He agreed he thought too many Muslims had been accepted as refugees in Australia when many persecuted Christians in Muslim countries could not get a visa.

Pastor Nalliah rejected a suggestion by Ms Mortimer that the more Catch the Fire highlighted the danger of Islam, the easier it was to raise money.

Pastor Nalliah said he loved Muslims, and that Catch the Fire had helped resettle Muslim refugees released from detention centres.