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Sonia Kruger sparks controversy on Muslim immigration

Updated: Nine defends Today show discussion after Sonia Kruger calls for Australia to halt immigration to Muslims.

https://twitter.com/TheTodayShow/status/754812438982168577

The Voice host Sonia Kruger has called for Australia to halt immigration to Muslims.

Discussing an article penned by Andrew Bolt in which he drew a link between immigration and terrorism, Kruger said she had plenty of Muslim friends but said of migration, “Personally, I would like to see it stop now for Australia.

“I want to feel safe, as all of our citizens do when they go out to celebrate Australia Day, and I’d like to see freedom of speech.”

Today Extra co-host David Campbell disagreed, saying: “I’d like to see freedom of religion as well, as well as freedom of speech! They both go hand in hand.”

“This breeds hate. This sort of article breeds hate.”

But Kruger noted, “I would venture that if you spoke to the parents of those children killed in Nice, they would be of the same opinion.”

When asked by Lisa Wilkinson if she was advocating a position similar to that of Donald Trump to ban Muslim immigration, she affirmed, “Yes I would. For the safety of our citizens here, I think it’s important.”

Social media has lit up with heated commentary following Kruger’s remarks.

UPDATED:

A Channel Nine spokeswoman said the network believed in “freedom of speech and the Mixed Grill segment on the Today show is a place where that happens”.

“Sonia, David and Lisa each expressed a variety of opinions on the show this morning,” she added.

26 Responses

  1. Pauline Hanson won a senate seat by her views in Qld.
    Do we trust our govt to check everyone coming into our country Muslims included??
    That is the worry for my country Australia.

  2. It is fantastic that Sonia felt free to express her own opinion rather than simply taking the easy way and agreeing with the majority. No action whatsoever is required by Nine.

  3. From the Makkasan traders in the 1700s to the camel experts of the 1800s, Muslim people have had a long history in Australia. Sonia’s comments appear to me, to be rash and ill-considered. She does have a right to freedom of speech, but it would be nice if she used this right to promote a calm and rational response that did not involve stereotyping large groups of people.

  4. Sonia made a valid point and rather than scream racism at every opportunity – there needs to be an adult and mature discussion

    She has every right to give her opinion, nice to see some honesty too. David Campbell on the other hand seems to beat the left drum so it’s nice to see a different view presented

    You can’t have a mature discussion by mocking and kicking people for their opinion which is just as valid and entitled to be made as the opposite one!

  5. Why would there be any backlash? Surely people are allowed an opinion. It’s not the same as mine as I believe a lot of people from those countries who are persecuted need the ability to escape to a tolerant nation. They must be willing to accept our cultures and values though such as freedom of speech, which is what Sonia is entitled to as well. If people don’t agree with your view that doesn’t make them racist, intolerant, stupid, ignorant or xenophobic. It just means they have a different opinion to you. If we want to live in a free country then we have to allow everyone a voice. If you get offended then speak your mind but without the name calling and back up your arguments with facts and not words that don’t reflect 99.9% of the wonderful people in this country.

    1. Sonia having an opinion is not what makes her racist. Sonia engaging in racist commentary makes her racist.

      But please, educate me with facts on how encouraging the exclusion of entire sections of the world’s population based on religion isn’t racism…

      1. Sam, not having a go at you but nothing she said is racist as Islam is a religion, not a race of people. It is bigotry when it is centred on a religion.

      2. I personally think she is wrong but don’t think she is racist and I think it is an uneducated view as I doubt it will stop hate crimes in this or any other country, in fact I believe it would most likely have the opposite effect. Extremists exist everywhere in all religions and non religious people, plus on all sides of government, such as the extreme right and left, all can be dangerous if we provide them with too much publicity as that is what these people thrive on. The term ‘racist’ and other derogatory terms seem to be thrown around to shut down debate for people that don’t seem to know what the words really mean.

  6. It’s a difficult complex issue. Not all Muslims believe in blowing up innocent people but look at the facts. I will not publish the details here but in Middle East Muslim populations there is an overwhelming intolerance towards whites, gays, other religions, women’s rights and women in general. So on one hand we fight for the rights of such groups but then say let’s support the rights of groups of people who have contradictory values.

    1. We should ban Americans too, since a proportion of them hate gays and women.

      Generally they’re the one who are going to vote for Trump, but let’s hold it against all of them.

      Oh and we should ban Catholics too since they hate gays and their priests can’t be trusted with kids.

    2. “An overwhelming intolerance towards [other races], gays, other religions, women’s rights and women in general” could describe any number of comments on any social media site.

  7. I believe this is why so many people are agreeing with Pauline Hanson. Whatever happened to having an opinion? How can you call a person speaking about a religion (Muslim) a racist? It’s a religion. It’s okay for people to attack her for having an opinion but its not okay for her to have one?

  8. Yes, stopping Muslims from migrating to Australia, will definitely stop a person from driving a vehicle, into a crowd.

    Sonia Kruger, for president!

    Yep, Sonia, you just solved the problem.

  9. ‘I have Muslim friends’ sounds a lot like ‘I’m not racist, but’.

    Luckily hosts on morning tv making xenophobic comments aren’t relevant to society.

    Nonetheless, it’d be great if Nine just sacked her and show that ignorance, xenophobia, and hatred are not accepted on their network.

      1. Unfortunately you’ve made two common assumptions: that Australians have the right to free speech and as a result are exempt from any consequences as a result of that speech, both of which aren’t true, and the 2nd part isn’t even true for America which has the first part enshrined constitutionally.

        There isn’t any explicit clause in the Australian constitution that designates the right to free speech for individuals, what the High Court has deemed it does do though is put constraints on the government from legislating against it.

        If what Sonia said contravenes in any way any part of her employment contract with 9, they would be completely within their right to fire her.

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