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Australian PM to ban preachers who incite hatred

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IANS Canberra

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Wednesday expressed "frustration and anger" at "preachers of hate" who come to Australia to incidte hostility, saying he will move to ban them.

Abbott said on Sydney radio Wednesday that he wanted to set up a "red card" system to stop these "hate preachers" getting visas to come to Australia, Xinhua reported.

But he said it was unlikely that the system would be in place in time to stop an upcoming lecture being promoted by the radical Islamic political party, Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has planned to hold a public lecture in Sydney Friday about the US-led military action in Iraq and Syria.

 

The lecture, entitled "The War To End The Blessed Revolution", will focus on the West's role in attacking the "noble Syrian revolution".

Appearing on 2GB radio, Abbott was asked by host Alan Jones whether the government would ban the organisation, which advocates that all Muslim affairs be administered according to the Shariah rules.

Abbott said he shared Jones' "frustration and anger" but under the current laws, the group, which the prime minister declared was "thoroughly objectionable" and "campaigns against Australian values and interests" could not be banned.

But he vowed the law will change. "At the moment we can only ban organisations that engage in terrorism," Abbott said.

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First Published: Oct 08 2014 | 8:22 AM IST

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