Reclaim Australia: Federal MP George Christensen tells crowd Australia 'at war with radical Islam'
Updated
Federal Coalition MP George Christensen has told a crowd of anti-Muslim protesters Australia is "at war with radical Islam".
Mr Christensen, who represents Dawson in North Queensland, was speaking to more than 300 Reclaim Australia supporters who turned out to the movement's rally in Mackay, coinciding with similar protests across Australia.
Many in the crowd cheered as Mr Christensen made his address.
"We would be foolishly naive to think that we are not at war with radical Islam," he said.
"Our voice says we will not surrender, we will not sit idly by and watch the Australian culture and the Australian lifestyle that we love, and that is envied around the world ... we are not going to see that surrendered and handed over to those who hate us for who we are and what we stand for.
"It is extremism of any kind that we must guard against, it's ordinary folk like you people here today who must speak up.
"It is we who must not give in to the bullying and the intimidation and speak without fear to our friends and family, our neighbours, people all through our life."
Mr Christensen touched on anger on social media about his attendance, which sparked controversy when it was announced last week.
He said he was "disappointed, although not entirely surprised" by the outrage his decision to speak at the rally generated and defended the rights of Reclaim Australia demonstrators.
"We all have the right to be here today protesting, in a peaceful way," he said.
"We are protesting against the dangers of radical Islam, and the culture of appeasement which allows radical extremism like that to fester.
"We must not ignore the fact that there is another world view out there, we can't stick our heads in the sand and pretend there's not an alternate world view that's opposed to democracy and freedom."
The Mackay MP said he had been disappointed to see events in Sydney and Melbourne attended by extremists.
"Certainly with any movement there are fringe dwellers who seek to pervert the intentions of others, and it's sad to see in places like Sydney and Melbourne we had neo-Nazi skinheads turn up at those rallies," he said.
"The fact is though, these neo-Nazi skinheads, they actually are fellow travellers with the extreme Islamic movement, because they share so many of the same hate-filled ideologies,' he said.
A small number of anti-racism protesters also attended the protest, with some carrying signs objecting to Mr Christensen's appearance.
One demonstrator held a placard reading: "Shame George shame!"
Police praised the peaceful crowd for their behaviour.
Topics: federal-government, community-and-society, religion-and-beliefs, islam, multiculturalism, mackay-4740, qld, australia
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