Sonia Kruger vilified Muslim people in Australia but her comments were not racist (original) (raw)

Television presenter Sonia Kruger vilified Muslims in comments about banning them from immigrating to Australia**,** a New South Wales tribunal says.

Key points:

• Kruger had suggested a link between Muslim populations and the frequency of terrorist attacks
• She acknowledged her views "may have been extreme"
• The man who made the complaint wanted her to be found to have contravened the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act and to apologise

But the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled she did not racially vilify anyone, as Muslims are not a race.

The July 2016 remarks at the centre of the legal action were made by Kruger on Channel Nine's The Today Show while part of a panel discussing the question: "Do more migrants increase the risk of terror attacks?"

In the segment, which was seen by about 75,000 people, she referred to a column by Andrew Bolt following a terrorist attack in Nice, France.

The News Corp columnist had linked Muslims' migration to France to the recent spate of terrorist attacks in the country.

"I think Andrew Bolt has a point here; that there is a correlation between the number of people who, you know, are Muslim in a country and the number of terrorist attacks," she said on air.

"Now, I have a lot of very good friends who are Muslim, who are peace-loving, who are beautiful people, but there are fanatics.

"And does the population and the correlation between those two things, is it having an impact?"

She continued that she would "like to see [immigration of Muslim people] stopped now for Australia. Because I want to feel safe, as all of our citizens do".

The next day she repeated her views, and said they "may have been extreme" but she wanted "to make it very clear that [she] has complete respect for people of all races and religions".

Sam Ekermawi took the matter to the tribunal and argued Kruger and the Nine Network had racially vilified Muslims.

He did not seek a payout but had wanted an apology.

"There is no objective evidence that would allow the tribunal to be comfortably satisfied that Muslims living in Australia regard themselves as being a distinct community irrespective of their different ethnic origins, religious traditions," the tribunal said in its findings published on Friday.

"In conclusion, the evidence does not support a finding that Muslims living in Australia are a 'race' by reason of a common ethnic or ethno-religious origin.

"Apart from that issue, we would have found that both of the respondents [Kruger and The Nine Network] engaged in racial vilification of the Australian Muslim community, being Muslims living in Australia."

But the tribunal did find that when Kruger said she would like to see borders closed to Muslims "for the safety of the citizens here", she had provided her own views and commentary and went beyond discussion of Bolt's piece.

"These additions were not just opinion, they were vilifying remarks in their own right," the tribunal said.

While the comments were not found to be racially vilification, they "would likely encourage hatred towards, or serious contempt for, Australian Muslims by ordinary members of the Australian population", the tribunal said.