"It was grubby politics for John Howard to single out Muslims, given the failure of many migrants - my own grandparents for a start - to ever master the language. Such migrants can still be upstanding citizens and, in a generation or two, produce heirs who write for a living. But it was particularly grubby politics to single out Muslims in light of the Government's deliberate exclusion of so many from the very programs that would have made integration easier."
This is Adele Horin writing in the SMH today. As she starts her op-ed piece "Told to learn, denied the right":
"When the Prime Minister complained recently that a "small section" of Muslims resisted integration and failed to learn English, jaws dropped in all the unfashionable suburbs where community workers are helping refugees fit into our way of life.
From the charitable "Is it possible he has forgotten?" to the furious "He's an outrageous hypocrite", the workers recalled how the Howard Government deliberately denied English lessons to at least 8900 mainly Muslim refugees who arrived here by boat from 1999 onwards.
That was the year the Government changed its policy to block these refugees from the free English classes that have been the cornerstone of our multicultural society for decades."
Yet another example of Howard's duplicity, racism and as Horin says, his "grubby politics". Shameful!
This is Adele Horin writing in the SMH today. As she starts her op-ed piece "Told to learn, denied the right":
"When the Prime Minister complained recently that a "small section" of Muslims resisted integration and failed to learn English, jaws dropped in all the unfashionable suburbs where community workers are helping refugees fit into our way of life.
From the charitable "Is it possible he has forgotten?" to the furious "He's an outrageous hypocrite", the workers recalled how the Howard Government deliberately denied English lessons to at least 8900 mainly Muslim refugees who arrived here by boat from 1999 onwards.
That was the year the Government changed its policy to block these refugees from the free English classes that have been the cornerstone of our multicultural society for decades."
Yet another example of Howard's duplicity, racism and as Horin says, his "grubby politics". Shameful!
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