Fed: Vale is representative of govt extremism: Beazley

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2006
Fed: Vale is representative of govt extremism: Beazley

CANBERRA, Feb 14 AAP - Comments by a Liberal backbencher concerning abortion and the
growth in the Muslim population were symptomatic of the Liberal Party's growing extremism,
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley says.

Colleagues have distanced themselves from the comments by Liberal MP Danna Vale over
the abortion drug RU486 and Muslim groups have labelled them racist.

"I've actually read in (Sydney's) The Daily Telegraph (newspaper) where a certain imam
from the Lakemba mosque actually said that Australia's going to be a Muslim nation in
50 years' time," Ms Vale said yesterday.

"I didn't believe him at the time, but you know when you actually look at the birth
rates and when you look at the fact that we are aborting ourselves almost out of existence
by 100,000 abortions every year and that's on a guesstimate.

"You multiply that by 50 years, that's five million potential Australians we won't have here."

Mr Beazley said Ms Vale was representative of growing government extremism.

"Poor old Dana Vale is an authentic representative of this government's growing extremism.

"It is that sort of mentality which is affecting across the board all the sorts of
decisions they take," he told the ABC.

"It is probably also a fair indication of why this drug along with all the others ought
to simply have its fate determined by a body of experts under supervising proper experimentation
and how doctors choose to prescribe it."

AAP jcg/maur/bwl

KEYWORD: ABORTION BEAZLEY

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