Is Jacqui Lambie the Problem or merely the symptom?
It seems that Our Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie is getting more air time than her party leader, the leader of the opposition, and at times the Prime Minister himself. Although it is not uncommon for a Politician to be a little error prone - it may be worth analysing the errors made to see the faults that lay in our society.
There have been some stand out politicians in the mast parliament, who have stood out for a number of reasons. An opposition leader who neither leads, nor opposes, a communications minister who knows his brief, a Prime minister who buries his head in the sand completely whenever the environment is mentioned. However even the recent protest started in Townsville are failing to dislodge the ever - present Lambie from our news screens.
Making news most recently the Senator from the Island State has hit out hard against Sharia Law, and was undone when an interviewer called her bluff, and revealed that she did not know what she was talking about. This is nothing new - the Attorney General only a few months a go started talking about metadata - without having a clue what he was talking about.
Recently Senator Laqmbie has had two brushes with Islam, The first a poster backing the 'ban the burqa,' and the second the interview where she was asked about sharia law.
On the first she created a poster of a woman in a burqa, holding a pistol. The woman was a prominent Afghani Policewoman who had fought terror and prejudice in Kandahar, for her working life. The flaw - she did not ask for permission, and assumed that the picture would be ok. The shortsightedness of putting a portrait of a policewoman up under a sign saying that this was a terrorist seemed to have missed her. However kudos is due in that the poster did indeed portray a woman in a burqa, rather than the niqab. Although since only the eyes are visible in a niqab, there is little distinction between the two. The second instance involved Senator Lambie being asked about her knowledge of sharia law - which she was denouncing fervently on a popular Interview show.
Both of these two instances were held up to ridicule - The first instance justifiably relative of the policewoman would have been shocked to see her image used in that manner. However without the islamic community raising their voices - would the general public have been any more aware of Malakais life? The incident brought a famous woman in Kandahar - one of the Talibans strongholds in Afghanistan. and put it on the radar of a lot more people than it would have otherwise. I have previously been stationed in Afghanistan - in a previous life as a soldier, and knew only marginally of the female police officers in the town. There were certainly a few more in Kabul, and they would probably support the anti-niqab/burka stance in Australia - But they might require a bit more of a modelling fee.
The second incident has brought into discussion Sharia Law as a fundamental part of Islam. The Australian Media has done a good job in patching up our knowledge of islam in response to the senators antics.
Part of the problem is that the 6th seat in a small state only requires a few wayward preferences to get in. Is she uneducated? This conclusion is plausible - but then most people on the streets of hobart would not know the difference between a burka and a niqab. Almost none would know the first thing about islam unless they practiced it.
A more likely conclusion is that Senator Lambie is an average Joe with a sudden plethora f microphones thrust in her face. It is therefore worth listening to what she says at the moment - if not for any other reason than this is what the average Joe believes. She's not the problem, merely a symptom. The problem may be getting enough Australians just like her to understand what is going on at the moment, especially when it comes to Islamic issues.
There have been some stand out politicians in the mast parliament, who have stood out for a number of reasons. An opposition leader who neither leads, nor opposes, a communications minister who knows his brief, a Prime minister who buries his head in the sand completely whenever the environment is mentioned. However even the recent protest started in Townsville are failing to dislodge the ever - present Lambie from our news screens.
Making news most recently the Senator from the Island State has hit out hard against Sharia Law, and was undone when an interviewer called her bluff, and revealed that she did not know what she was talking about. This is nothing new - the Attorney General only a few months a go started talking about metadata - without having a clue what he was talking about.
Recently Senator Laqmbie has had two brushes with Islam, The first a poster backing the 'ban the burqa,' and the second the interview where she was asked about sharia law.
On the first she created a poster of a woman in a burqa, holding a pistol. The woman was a prominent Afghani Policewoman who had fought terror and prejudice in Kandahar, for her working life. The flaw - she did not ask for permission, and assumed that the picture would be ok. The shortsightedness of putting a portrait of a policewoman up under a sign saying that this was a terrorist seemed to have missed her. However kudos is due in that the poster did indeed portray a woman in a burqa, rather than the niqab. Although since only the eyes are visible in a niqab, there is little distinction between the two. The second instance involved Senator Lambie being asked about her knowledge of sharia law - which she was denouncing fervently on a popular Interview show.
Both of these two instances were held up to ridicule - The first instance justifiably relative of the policewoman would have been shocked to see her image used in that manner. However without the islamic community raising their voices - would the general public have been any more aware of Malakais life? The incident brought a famous woman in Kandahar - one of the Talibans strongholds in Afghanistan. and put it on the radar of a lot more people than it would have otherwise. I have previously been stationed in Afghanistan - in a previous life as a soldier, and knew only marginally of the female police officers in the town. There were certainly a few more in Kabul, and they would probably support the anti-niqab/burka stance in Australia - But they might require a bit more of a modelling fee.
The second incident has brought into discussion Sharia Law as a fundamental part of Islam. The Australian Media has done a good job in patching up our knowledge of islam in response to the senators antics.
Part of the problem is that the 6th seat in a small state only requires a few wayward preferences to get in. Is she uneducated? This conclusion is plausible - but then most people on the streets of hobart would not know the difference between a burka and a niqab. Almost none would know the first thing about islam unless they practiced it.
A more likely conclusion is that Senator Lambie is an average Joe with a sudden plethora f microphones thrust in her face. It is therefore worth listening to what she says at the moment - if not for any other reason than this is what the average Joe believes. She's not the problem, merely a symptom. The problem may be getting enough Australians just like her to understand what is going on at the moment, especially when it comes to Islamic issues.
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