Ruddock labelled as fanatical as Taliban BRISBANE, Jan 26 AAP|Published: Saturday January 26, 1:39 PM
Brisbane Lord Mayor Jim Soorley today labelled federal Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock as "fanatical as the Taliban". Councillor Soorley used his address at today's citizenship ceremony at Brisbane's City Hall to offer homes to 100 women and children in the Woomera detention centre. Cr Soorley said that with the help of business associates he could organise accommodation for women and children detained in the facility, in South Australia's north. "I know I can get a hundred out into homes in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane within days," he said. "Let's get the women and children out of this terrible environment - it's a disgrace." Cr Soorley said the hunger strike at Woomera, which is now in its day 11, and Australia's treatment of asylum seekers was giving the nation a bad name. "Ruddock is now as fanatical as the Taliban," he told reporters after the ceremony. "This has to stop and is an international disgrace which is ruining our reputation." Cr Soorley said he would even personally pay accommodation costs for the asylum seekers in his affluent western Brisbane suburb of St Lucia. "Get the fanatic Ruddock to say he will accept the offer and we'll do it," he said. Cr Soorley said he was not concerned about politicising Australia Day. "It is a day of celebration but it is also a day of reflection and it is essential for us as a nation to recognise we are on the nose internationally," he said. "We will have no future as a nation if we do not deal (with this issue) with a sense of compassion, sense of understanding and a sense of welcome." By Nadine Rofail -- --------------------------------------------------------- "A terrorist is somebody who is prepared to kill innocent people to further a particular political objective." -Senator Robert Hill --------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/ until 11 March, 2001 and Recoznettwo is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznettwo%40green.net.au/ from that date. This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
