Controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders has called for mass migration from Islamic nations to be banned, saying Islam is incompatible with freedom.
Speaking in Melbourne at his first Australian press conference amid tight security, Mr Wilders said Islam could not integrate into western societies.
“Islam is totalitarianism ... Islam and freedom are incompatible,” he said.
Despite threats of protests, no demonstrators attended the press conference, which was held in Melbourne’s outer western suburbs.
About a dozen security guards were present, including personnel from the Netherlands.
Mr Wilders said mass migration from Islamic countries to Western nations should be stopped, except for certain humanitarian cases.
“If a homosexual who is taken to jail or threatened to be killed in Iran or a Christian that is mistreated in so many countries today in the Middle East ... when it comes to asylum seekers it’s a different story,” he said.
Mr Wilders said he wasn’t in the business of insulting people or inciting hatred, but he made derogatory remarks about the prophet Mohammed .
“We have to be able to talk in a free society about the character of Mohammed,” he said.
“Mohammed was a warlord, a terrorist, a paedophile, and I would not say that if not today 1.5 billion people believe that Mohammed is the best example to follow.
“It would be totally ridiculous to suggest that they are all following the example, but in the ideology the Koran is the word of God and the life of Mohammed ... is the person that they should copy, that they should try to follow.”
Mr Wilders said that those stopped from migrating from countries such as Lebanon would include Christians.
But an organiser of the MP’s visit, Andrew Horwood from the Q Society, interjected to say that the situation in the Netherlands was different to Australia.
“We don’t have a policy of stopping people coming to this country, we welcome people coming to this country, we ask them to obey our laws,” Mr Horwood said.
“What’s happening in the Netherlands can be different, we’re just hearing from some of the experiences, we’re not asking that they all happen here.”
Louise O’Shea, spokeswoman for groups opposing Mr Wilders, said protesters would picket tonight’s meeting.
“We want to make sure that anti-racist voices are heard, and that it is clear to people affected by racism and to those who oppose it here and around the world that there is strong opposition to Wilders’ message of hate,” she said.