Different rules of integration and tolerance do apply to different religious and ethnic groups.

Our politicians prevaricate and make excuses - as do many who write in these forums, governed by their self interest in diminishing our collective rights into religious and ethnic permissions or licences.

Issue to consider is how far do we divide people, and why ?

The High Court's primary job is protecting the Australian people from the avarice of Australian politicians; Their avarice for powers not freely given by the people of Australia.

Is not up to the Prime Minister to constantly condemn Muslims for perceived non-integration or shout out about other religious groups.

It is up to those who have the evidence to place the evidence where it can be assessed and responses judged.

Premiers and the Prime Minister need ensure their Attorney-Generals prosecute - where sufficient evidence, those accused of actively undermining court orders and covering up allegations of sexual assault on minors.

What relevant questions of the Attorney-Generals have been asked in their respective Question times ?

Perhaps we need Constitutional amendments to ensure our Parliaments do meet the first week of every month (except January) for Question time to be a regular call to public account.

Certainly we need more and better questions.

Whilst Party mentality prevails in Parliament we depend on the media, who depend on the politicians who depend on the media who depend on the... perhaps we need elections every year.

I can only agree with Irfan with this. As a Pagans, my family has faced discrimination and harrassment from Christian's are seeth with anger at us. Once, my eldest daughter(when she was 4yo) was visciously verbally abused by a Christian woman for being an evil child who will die a painful death. When I told her where to put herself, all I got was some rubbish about how non-Christians should not be allowed to have children.

My wife has found herself refused patronage on Brisbane buses by zealous Christian bus drivers for being evil when he saw her pentacle. Of the many things I have experienced, once I was told that all Pagans should be forced to wear symbols to publicly identify us to the general public.

There's a lot of hypocrisy and I do tend to see the organised religions of Jews, Christians and Muslims as one and the same.

I despair that in this so called enlightened age that religion still survives at all when it is based on superstition and a totally irrational logic. Try reading a book by Richard Dawkins called "The God Delusion" It might just persude you to actually think for yourself rather than be indoctrinated by clerics, priests and evangelists.

What a great article which amply demonstrates our major problem in Australia. Too many large NUMBERS in isolated intolerant ethnic groups.

Forgive me for saying it but, are we Australians or not? We are a conglomeration of all sorts of ethnic mixes, over time, usually smaller groups spread out in the community each enhancing and contributing to the wonderful diversity we enjoy.

What is happening now is large lumps of people being brought in by some who benefit financially to form solid blocks of people who belong in another country. Many do not wish to be Australians at all and are here due to the parlous circumstances they have been forced to leave in their home country. I suggest that, if you ask MOST immigrants, they would say they would be much happier in their home country if it was a place worth living in. Therefore I suggest they stick together to form a "home away from home" with the same attendant problems associated with their society and, unfortunately, the same control freak leaders.

Why replicate the country they were forced to leave. Our quality of life here is fantastic. Why jeapordize it by bringing in people who do not wish to embrace, enhance or contribute or their leaders who wish to quash what we are.

This statement goes for ANY group regardless of origin! It is the sheer NUMBERS that are the problem.

Regrettably the government's main aim is to get itself re-elected. Consequently for as long as the government thinks there are more votes in the rabid Christian god-botherers than in some other extremist group (because it is really only the extreme believers who will vote at their religion's behest) they will allow said rabid god-botherers to butter them up. (And I use that expression with its original English public school connotation.) However I suspect there is amongst mainstream Christians and lapsed Christians a general belief that people like Danny Nalliah are harmless loonies. This is because we have some familiarity with them - they are just a more extreme version of the fresh faced young americans on push bikes who come to our doors. Of course this is head-in-the-sand stuff - all harmless loonies have the potential to grow into dangerous loonies.

As a confirmed agnostic I would like to take issue with the earlier comment regarding "The God Delusion". Dawkins' earlier work in his field of biology and neo-Darwinist evolutionary theory are consise and well written. Unfortunately "The God Delusion" is trash, and contains almost all the errors in logic which Dawkins has castigated in his previous works. I would not recommend it to anyone.

Irfan Yusuf again diverts the fact that people from Islam are the ones creating terror throughout the world. He seems a mastermind at pulling out the victim card. The religion of secular humanism (from its pathetically flawed evolution base) is causing more harm in this nation than any other religion. The blood of thousands of murdered unborn cry out for justice! The character flaws in leaders of all political persuasions are a result of our failure to call good good and evil evil. Many on these posts are certain about their opinions and then deny absolutes. They appease their seared consciences with hopefully flawed rehashed garbage such as Dawkins book.