Australian politician wants 'final solution' to immigration

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An Australian politician was widely condemned Wednesday after demanding "a final solution" to immigration and calling for a return to the White Australia policy that favored "European Christians."

Fraser Anning stunned lawmakers during his maiden speech to the senate when he invoked the infamous Nazi phrase used under Adolf Hitler in reference to annihilating Jewish people from Europe.

He also sparked widespread anger by urging a ban on Muslim migrants and defending the race-based White Australia immigration policy that was in place for seven decades from 1901.

Senator Fraser Anning makes his maiden speech in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, August 14, 2018. /VCG Photo

"We as a nation are entitled to insist that those who are allowed to come here predominantly reflect the historic European-Christian composition of Australian society," Anning told the upper house late Tuesday. "Those who come here need to assimilate and integrate."

He added that "ethnocultural diversity... has been allowed to rise to dangerous levels in many suburbs."

Anning, who represents Queensland for Katter's Australian Party, called for immigrant numbers to be slashed, and for a ban on Muslims, justifying his call by saying they had "consistently shown to be the least able to assimilate and integrate."

"While all Muslims are not terrorists, certainly all terrorists these days are Muslims, so why would anyone want to bring more of them here?"

Muslims prepare to offer Eid al-Adha prayers on the road outside the Lakemba mosque in Sydney, September 1, 2017. /VCG Photo

He added: "The final solution to the immigration problem is of course a popular vote."

Immigration remains a hot button issue in Australia, amid concern about jobs and overcrowding in major cities.

Data released last month showed migration numbers hit a 10-year low last year, with the annual intake falling by 20,000 to 162,000 as vetting procedures were tightened.

Despite criticism and a backlash from all sides of politics, Anning was unrepentant Wednesday and claimed he did not know the connection between the phrase "final solution" and Nazi Germany.

(Top image: People attend a protest organized by left-wing group Campaign Against Racism and Fascism in Melbourne, September 17, 2017. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP