Abbott Downplays Burqa Stunt Backlash, Says Islamophobia Not an Issue in Australia

Abbott also called on Liberal Party supporters to get more involved and try to steady the ship.

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott addresses the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on July 18, 2014. Mark Nolan/Getty Images

Former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Australia does not have a problem with Islamophobia, and says there’s no need for outrage over Pauline Hanson’s recent burqa stunt.

Abbott, who served as Australia’s leader from 2013-15, was speaking at a launch for his book, Australia: A History, in Brisbane on Nov. 25, where he referenced the One Nation leader.

Hanson wore the Islamic face covering after attempting to put forward a bill to ban the garment from being worn in federal parliament.

The party leader’s wearing of the burqa drew fierce criticism from across the political spectrum, and was promptly suspended.

“The fact there was a universal pile-on against Senator Pauline Hanson for her burqa behaviour yesterday makes me think that, if anything, we bend over backwards to be fair to Islam,” Abbott told the audience of the Australian Institute for Progress.

“I worry about some aspects of very strict Islam,” he said. “In particular, I worry about the compatibility of some Muslim teachings with life in ... a pluralist liberal democracy such as ours, I mean, where all religions are respected, but no religion is put up on a particular pedestal, certainly a pedestal having greater legal rights.

“And where no person is discriminated, either in favour or against, because of religious belief or lack of religious belief.”

Abbott praised the citizenship test introduced under former Prime Minister John Howard, and the pledge of allegiance, but questioned if it was still being taken seriously.

“And when I see people who I suspect at some point have taken the citizenship oath, but I see them in marches in favour of Hamas and against our Jewish fellow Australians, I really wonder whether we are serious about that citizenship,” he said.

Hanson has been suspended from Parliament for seven days, meaning she will officially return in the new year.

The Albanese government moved the suspension and censure motion, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong telling the Senate the stunt had real-world consequences.

Wong said a friend told her that morning about a conversation with her seven-year-old daughter. “Mummy, do all Christians hate Muslims?” saying it encapsulated the situation of the debate.

Call to Stand by Centre-Right Party, Concern Over Lack of Experience in New Options

Meanwhile, Abbott also addressed the issue of the centre-right Liberal Party’s waning popularity, as well as the British Conservative Party counterpart.

He urged voters not to jump from the frying pan into the fire.

In the UK, the centre-right Conservatives has haemorrhaged most of its popular support to the new Reform Party, headed by Nigel Farage, who campaigned for Brexit.

“My fear is that, having had a disappointing Conservative government replaced by an absolutely contemptible green-left Labour government [in the UK], we would then get a completely chaotic and shambolic Reform government. Because supposing they got 350 [or] 400 members of the House of Commons, only half a dozen of them would previously have been members of parliament,” Abbott said.

“None of them would have been ministers in a government. How on earth is that going to work?”

Polls show the surging Reform leading all other parties with 30.5 percent of the vote, while the Labour government currently sits on 19.1 percent, and the Conservatives on 17.5 percent. With a “first past the post” voting system, unlike Australia’s preferential system that redistributes votes, if current polling trends continue, both major parties could be devastated at the next election.

Abbott appealed to existing Liberal Party members to try get involved and fix the existing party rather than desert and leave for alternatives, like One Nation, which has seen a surge across multiple polls since the May federal election.

Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson has conceded that the opposition has a “very big mountain to climb” if it hopes to reclaim government in Australia.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to win back the trust and faith of all Australians,” she told Sky News.

A recent Newspoll result showed the Liberals’ primary vote had hit a record low 24 percent, with One Nation claiming 15-18 percent of the primary vote.