Belly,

What about our home grown Aboriginal culture, that forces underage girls to marry old men and allows men to have more than one wife?

Australian Courts recognize Traditional Law and thus deny Australian citizens their rights under Australian Law.

One Law for all Australians.

Dear Belly,

<<But if we confront the importation of a culture harming our own,>>

A distinction must be made crystal clear, what it is that they harm:

Terrorists harm people and that's a clear no-no.
Preventing you from following your culture as you wish is definitely not on.

But if someone merely harms another culture - NOT the people of that culture nor their ability to follow their culture, then they hurt no one: culture is not a person or a sentient being!

In such case, they are merely competing - and the better culture shall win.

The Western culture is failing to provide our youth with a sense of purpose and direction and offers nothing beyond sensual and intellectual pleasures. If one feels jealous about other cultures who succeed because they do provide such a sense, then they should think how to improve their own rather than how to suppress the others by force.

Dear Is Mise,

<<One Law for all Australians.>>

So instead of protecting actual people, living and breathing people, you want the law to protect a culture, a particular culture in fact, the one who conquered this whole continent at the point of a gun.

Thus saying, you admit that this culture is not good enough to compete on equal terms, based on its own merits rather than on the might of the police.

Perhaps you meant, One Law AGAINST all Australians!

This man came with a student visa to Australia to study at Newcastle University.
Why then was he living in SW Sydney ?

When he has had enough of this little girl he only has to say three
times; "I divorce thee" and go and marry another one.

Frankly it is all very sus.

Ahhh, I forgot to ask, was the marriage registered ?
I'll bet quids it wasn't.

Isn't this just the old perennial chestnut periodically rolled into the fire by the usual hoary old chestnut Banjo.

Is it me or do you lot seem to have an unhealthy fascination with this topic, after all we are talking about underage sex.

Oh, well be that as it may, let me state for the record that I would expect a full investigation of the circumstances around what has happened to the young girl. One that would not only look at the actions of the student but also those involved in the marriage ceremony. If they knew the age of the child and were party to what occurred then they need to be held to account.

Now let's have a good look at the facts and just how dishonest you lot are tying this to Muslim immigration.

Firstly the male was here to study, he was not a migrant. Are you proposing we halt all overseas student visas from Muslim countries? This industry is second only behind mining in earning export dollars for this country. It is a huge factor in sustaining our standard of living. Or won't you go there because you are so determined to turn this into yet another immigrant bashing exercise?

The average age of first marriage for women is actually higher in Lebanon (28.8 years), than Australia (27.7 years).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_at_first_marriage

Early marriages tend to be less a feature of religion but more prevalent in poorer communities. Look at a highly Christianised nation like Uganda. The marriage age is legally 18 but the age for first marriage is below that in over 50% of them. More disturbingly the figures for those who were married at 10-14 years is, according to the 2006 census, still at 18%.

The heavily Catholic Western region saw a marked increase in those marrying below the legal age from the 2001 to 2006 figures.
http://www.culturalpractice.com/site/wp-content/downloads/3-2009-14.pdf

I am all for being resolute about our marriage ages in this country. Immigrant bashing shouldn't be part of it. Unless we want to ban New Zealanders as well.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/the-secret-life-inside-the-depraved-family-who-live-in-the-hills-of-a-quiet-country-town/story-fnixwvgh-1226781706111

Yuyutsu

'Which is the lesser evil? I ' Actually Yuyutsu
both secularism and Islam are both death cultures. Yes secularism encourages young girls to be sluts by the time they are 13 while Islam condones marriage even when young girls don't want it. Mohammed did have an 8 year old bride. Obviously the far better choice is for boys and girls to be taught about Christ and given the moral framework to make healthy choices in life. With Islam and secularism it is not a choice.