A fabricated anti-Muslim statement attributed to successive Australian prime ministers, starting with John Howard, continuing with Julia Gillard and ending with Kevin Rudd, was resurrected this week in Athens, when a Victorian Parliamentary delegation visiting Greece met with Mr Terens Quick, a journalist and MP with the breakaway right wing party Independent Greeks.
Mr Quick, responsible for his party’s foreign affairs, while receiving the Victorian delegation headed by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Ken Smith and the President of the Legislative Council Bruce Atkinson, commenting on the civil war in Syria and attempting to highlight the actions of Muslim fundamentalists in that country, reminded the Victorian MPs of an alleged statement made by Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Kevin Rudd, according to Mr Quick’s paraphrasing is supposed to have said to the Muslim community in Australia that: “Most Australians believe in God. Christians, men and women with Christian values founded this land (Australia) and this is clearly recorded. If our God offends you I urge you to find another place in the world to go and live, because our God is part of our culture. If you disagree with this then you should leave. We did not bring you here against your will. It was your choice to come here”.
It is not the first time that Greek politicians publically take up this web fabrication that in the last few years been propagated around the globe, by extreme right wing sites and bloggers including those in Greece,.
In the past, Giorgos Karatzaferis, leader of the right wing Greek party LAOS, which was for a short period of time part of the tripartite government of Lukas Papademos in Greece, also proliferated the false claims.
The so called Kevin Rudd “statement”, attributed in the past to John Howard and to Julia Gillard is alleged to have included the following remark: “‘This is our country, our land, and our life style, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom. If you aren’t happy here then leave. We didn’t force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country you accepted.'”
None of the Australian Prime Ministers Liberal or Labor have ever said anything of the kind. The so called “speech” was constructed of snippets of conversations expressed in many public forums shortly after the terrorist bombing of the subway in London in 2005 and not from Australian Prime Ministers.