One Nation prejudice hurts Muslims

A prominent Muslim resident in Katanning says the community is afraid of speaking out about the presence of One Nation in the region.

Alep Mydie is a well-known figure within Katanning community, running his Clive Street cafe and sitting on the Shire of Katanning Council.

After the Herald published an article in last week’s edition in which One Nation candidates spoke about their party policies on Islam and halal certification, he was invited to respond.

Councillor Mydie said One Nation Upper House candidate and deputy Shire president Craig McKinley’s comments on banning Muslim entry into Australia were unsubstantiated.

“In regard to Muslims there is no issue on the policy at the moment,” he said.

“There is no issue in regards to who comes in because there is no issue at all when it comes to Muslims.

“With what Craig said about what happened in Melbourne, he should have looked at that more carefully.

“It wasn’t a Muslim who ran over all those people, he was wrong.

“They get in too quickly with blaming because their minds are set on racism and discrimination; the judgment within One Nation is so quick to blame the Muslims.”

Cr McKinley said he had spoken to people of different nationalities and received no backlash after his nomination was announced, but Cr Mydie said behind the scenes, people had different opinions.

“I won’t name names but everyday people disagree with him,” he said. “He said there’s no backlash but everybody comes to me and I just have to ignore it because it’s not my judgment.

“All the Muslims who read the paper were scared because One Nation is in town but they’re not going to say anything about it because they are afraid of it.

“I’m not going to sit back and watch them run the show because it’s not right.”

One Nation Agricultural Region candidate Rod Caddies commented on the unfairness of halal certification and how it was a form of reverse racism, but Cr Mydie said it was “simply not true.” “Whoever goes to apply for a job at (the Western Australian Meat Marketing Co-operative) will be assessed by management,” he said.

“How many Muslim slaughtermen are there? Maybe one or two who cut the throat and the rest are Chinese, Burmese, European and English and he doesn’t know that.

“Imagine if there were no halal programs in place and no production of halal meat. Where would the farmers send the meat?” Cr Mydie said One Nation were clearly against Muslims and weren’t prepared to see differently.

“It hurts people; it hurts friends of ours who aren’t Muslim who have seen us grow either in Perth, Melbourne or anywhere in Australia,” he said.

“We have contributed a lot to the country and they can’t see that.

“The Government don’t have any issues with the Muslims at the moment, it’s only them who have the issues, One Nation has the issues. You ask the Liberals, Labor and the Nationals — nothing.”