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Umu 'Isa
02-14-2006, 03:31 AM
Liberal backbencher Danna Vale has received a withering dressing-down after saying Australia is in danger of aborting itself "almost out of existence" and becoming a Muslim nation.

Mrs Vale on Monday backed moves for parliament to retain power of approval over the controversial abortion-inducing drug RU486.

"I've actually read in The Daily Telegraph where a certain imam from the Lakemba mosque actually said that Australia's going to be a Muslim nation in 50 years' time," she told reporters.

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."

Mrs Vale's coalition colleagues have distanced themselves from her views, while senior government minister Amanda Vanstone openly criticised her fellow Liberal.

Senator Vanstone, who voted in the Senate last week in support of a private members' bill to lift the effective ban on RU486, said Mrs Vale had no understanding of Australia's immigration program.

"I think I'll invite Danna around for a cup of morning tea and perhaps a cucumber sandwich where I'll be able to point out to her that our intake at the moment, our source countries, are very much from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, China, India, South Africa and the Philippines," she told ABC radio.

"Apart from them being completely ill-founded, that's just a complete misunderstanding of how our migration program works and where our source countries are," she said.

Other MPs have labelled Mrs Vale's comments "dopey" and "offensive" and called for Prime Minister John Howard to force her to apologise to the Australian people.

Muslim leaders described the comments as irresponsible and racist.

Meanwhile the private members' bill seeking to strip Health Minister Tony Abbott of his exclusive power over access to RU486 has been thrown into doubt.

Liberal backbencher Andrew Laming has proposed a major change ahead of debate on the bill in the lower house this week.

The bill, which has already passed the Senate, would hand that power to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) instead, making it consistent with the treatment of other drugs.

Mr Laming's proposal would give parliament the last word on the issue by allowing it to overturn a decision by the TGA.

Although Mr Laming said he would support the bill in its current form if the amendment failed, support for his suggestion appears to be gaining momentum.

Democrats leader Lyn Allison, who co-sponsored the private members' bill seeking to hand control over the pill to health professionals, says she is alarmed it could be voted down.

Government MPs trying to placate Mr Abbott would turn a medical issue into a debate about abortion every time the TGA granted access to the drug, she said.

"It's loopy.

"My concern is that there are many who are saying this is a compromise," Senator Allison told AAP.

"What possible basis could they have for making the decision (to overturn a TGA ruling) other than they hate abortion."

Such a move would also act as a deterrent to potential sponsors of the drug, she said.

"It would be a huge deterrent because no sponsor would go to that huge cost and time only to be told by the parliament, no."

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mahdisoldier19
02-14-2006, 03:32 AM
Assalam Alaikam

Wow!
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