Out-of-towners looking to stir up hate and division in the community are not welcome in Wollongong.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That was the blunt message issued by Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery to the group who held an anti-Muslim barbecue in Towradgi on Sunday.
Cr Bradbery was not at the barbecue organised by the Australian Brotherhood founder Dan Maloney Johnson.
The Mercury though did attend after seeing a Facebook post encouraging all ‘’like-minded anti-Islam groups’’ to attend the event.
But when this reporter and a Mercury photographer showed up, there were only half-dozen or so people at the barbecue, most wearing Infidel Brotherhood hoodies.
Queensland-based Johnson said the barbecue was just a get together to discuss issues concerning ‘’everyday Aussies’’.
‘’A lot of our concerns are to do with Islam,’’ he said.
‘’People like you [media] think we are against Muslims. We don’t have a problem with Muslims, I have a problem with Islam.’’
Groups sprouting this type of rhetoric in Wollongong disappointed the city’s lord mayor.
‘’We don’t need these types here. As far as I’m concerned anything that stirs up division or difficulties in our community is not welcome in our city,’’ Cr Bradbery said.
We don't need these types here. As far as I’m concerned anything that stirs up division or difficulties in our community is not welcome in our city.
- Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery
‘’If there are people in Wollongong who share those type of views, they can go elsewhere.
‘’Yes there is freedom of speech and so on but not freedom to stir up hate and division in our community.’’
Greg Melleuish, an associate professor of history and politics at the University of Wollongong, was not surprised by the low turnout to the barbecue.
‘’I was actually quite surprised they have come to Wollongong. I wouldn’t have thought it would have been a very fruitful recruiting ground for them,’’ he said.
Mr Melleuish said this group and similar ones such as Reclaim Australia, have always been around, but they are more visible now thanks to social media.
‘’The reason I suspect we didn’t see them in the past is because often they were in places like rural Queensland,’’ he said.
‘’They have a larger profile because of social media but they just make noise…..they don’t attract a lot of followers.’’
