Those who wanted the cleric gone blame him for being out of touch with Australian values: in contrast, those who make apologies for him blame it on the translation, or rather mistranslation, of Arabic into English.
Yet he remains. With the lesser of the two points, still being DETRIMENTAL to AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY.
Fact is, the translation was 100% correct, so we need to drop the (mistranslation) argument immediately. There was no mistranslation! (Period)
Secondly those who wanted the cleric (gone), or preferably deported (in many peoples opinion), were the MAJORITY, who once again loose out.

We have the problem, where’s the (allusive) solution.
The answer is simple.
#There is a Problem with Muslims integrating(statement cannot be denied)!
-small number (arguable), but from small things, big things grow.
-failure to integrate, turns multi-culturalism into(tribes) “and tribes fight”
#Need to stop problem getting bigger, in terms of amount of Muslims immigrating to Australia (stop Muslim immigration)< I believe that policy would have a lot of supporters
#Place cameras in mosques, with the statement “comments such as women are like uncovered meat....etc, has abused our generosity and trust, and is not compatible with our society” if it’s not compatible it doesn’t belong<commonsense

If these 3 points were implemented, the future of australia, and the overwhelming majority of australians, would be considerably safer, our way of life will reverse its gradual and exponential decline (gang vilence, turf wars, possible terroist attakcs, and on,and on, what comes nxt? that is a society going down the wrong path).

But why don’t we take these steps?
Ill give you my opinion, in which I share with I believe, a majority of Australians.
If we done that right now, I think we’d all learn why it’s called the religion of peace.
Personally, id rather learn that now then in 30 years time, at our current rate of immigration.

“What then is the place of the Arabic language in all this?”-author. I don’t know, is it just a symptom (albeit a more obvious one), of a gradually increasing, more dangerous problem.

The cleric's speech is idiotic no matter how it is translated. It's really too ridiculous to be offensive but if it has to offend anyone, it offends everyone, because while women may be raw meat, men are mindless animals who cannot restrain their carnal urges.
The real worry is how much air time and press amplification his silly views are given and what purpose this actually serves. Is it really that newsworthy, is there really an issue to debate? Why give a crackpot a megaphone?

The cleric is simply an egotistic,ill mannered buffoon. He should be sent immediately back where he belongs because it is totally clear he does not belong in Australia.
If migrants come to live here ,it is not for us to adapt to their ways or their archaic habits.
Islam and the West do not mix, have never mixed ,will never mix and the faster this is realised the less will be the strife that will follow if this problem is not to become worse.
Muslims live a medievil life firmly affixed to a book written 15 hundred years ago, we are a modern progressive, democratic nation.There is a dividing line that will never be breached between us. We cannot live with the old, they cannot live with the new.

Despite the fact some of my dearest friends are of Muslim extraction, in general I must agree with the other posters here, in so far as I do not believe Muslims are capable (in general) of integrating the way every other culture seems to have managed in a much shorter space of time.

Every culture brings their thugs & criminals, but no other community harbours them the way the Muslims choose to, time & again.

This is not to say there are no decent people among them. Quite the contrary they are probably the majority, but their complete unwillingness to choose Australia as their true home, and their insistence on protecting their own regardless of the seriousness of the crime committed, makes them no better than the actual perpetrators in my eyes.

It really is a case of you're either with us or against us in this situation.

Thoughts are circumscribed by language. How many conflicts - of any size or consequence - stem from misinterpretation, from reading more or less into otherwise neutral comments made by an idealogical enemy? Only weeks ago the pope made his own unwitting contribution to the religion wars.

Abe has posited one theory here - are there any Arabic speakers willing to comment?

"I do not automatically dislike or hate individual Muslims. It is unfortunate for them that they are lumbered with Islam."

I'm sure they're grateful for your sympathy, Leigh.

As regards integration, are they the only peoples who are slow to adapt? I recall not long ago the same remarks were used to describe Chinese. There are many, many Chinese living and working in Sydney but who speak barely a word of English (and don't vote, or pay tax, or drink beer, even!) But they make wonderful food so they're OK.

Obviously, you've placed a bit of thought into your answer but ain't it a bit extreme to prohibit immigration based on religion?
"Australia re-adopts racist immigration policy" would be hard to refute.

(and are you DB in another guise?)

EasyTimes: "I think the problem with Muslims that come to Australia is they have a similar attitude as Borat from Kazakhstan"

I think that Leigh may be the 'Borat from Australia' :)

(and that's before reading the rest of the commentary on this excellent article...)