His party wants to , ban the building of mosques, and into the religion, but One Nation candidate Shane Holley has praised his “brothers” at a mosque in Queensland.
Mr Holley is vying for the state seat of Stretton - one of the most multicultural electorates in the region - in the Queensland state election.
On Saturday, the small business owner and taxi driver joined local MPs speaking at Logan Mosque, which had thrown open its doors as part of a national mosque open day, and spoke about the need for community harmony.
Mr Holley made no reference to the party’s policies about Islam, instead thanking community leaders and noting it was a privilege to represent one the “most multicultural industries” in the country, the taxi sector.
Shane Holley, second from left, at an earlier visit to Logan Mosque. Source: Supplied/SBS World News
“So coming here today is just kind of like another day where I get to spend it with my brothers that I get to work with each and every day within the taxi industry,” he told the crowd of about 40 people.
“One of the reasons that I find it important to be here, not only with my taxi hat on but also with my political hat on and as a One Nation candidate, is it’s about bringing communities together.”
Mr Holley spoke of the importance of the whole community working together for the common goals of “peace, happiness and to build a better Australia”.
“It’s fantastic to be able to dispel some of the myths out there and representing One Nation,” he said.
Mr Holley has been reluctant to expand on his remarks since his visit.
The One Nation candidate was unavailable for comment when SBS World News contacted him several times this week.
No record of Mr Holley’s attendance at Logan Mosque appears on his candidate Facebook page, which otherwise documents the political hopeful’s time out on the hustings and messages from the party.
Among the posts shared by Mr Holley is a July interview posted by party leader Pauline Hanson in which she speaks of her concerns about Islam.
“If you understand Islam and you understand Muslims, even the moderate Muslims. Now, a lot of these people, if Jihad was called, where are their loyalties going to lie?” Ms Hanson told interviewer and former Labor leader Mark Latham.
“This is why I’ve called for a royal commission into Islam, we need to understand it.”
One Nation’s Queensland head office referred media enquiries back to the candidate.
Mr Holley’s party wants to stop the establishment of new mosques. Senator Hanson has also called for CCTV units to be installed at every mosque over terrorism concerns, and in her maiden speech, said Islam was “incompatible” with Australia and that the nation was at risk of being “swamped” by Muslims.
"Islam cannot have a significant presence in Australia if we are to live in an open, secular and cohesive society," she said.
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Asked why it had invited One Nation to the mosque given the party’s views on Islam, Jamal El-Kholed from the Islamic Association of Logan said: “The mosque is open for everyone”.
Mr El-Kholed said the day was about teaching others about the Muslim community and Arabic culture.
“Some people know nothing about Islam, maybe he wants to learn,” he told SBS News.
Mr El-Kholed said he’d also received a “beautiful” letter from another One Nation candidate in which they had expressed joy at having visited the mosque.
“I can’t believe it; beautiful letter,” Mr El-Kholed said.
“This man, he talked from his heart.”
The candidate didn’t want the letter to be made public.
Mr El-Kholed said he was not “worried” about Senator Hanson’s views.
“Pauline is one of 26 million Australians,” he said.
“It’s not about One Nation, it’s about people, people [have] very nice heart (sic).”
“If you can change the person, maybe you can change the party.”
Federal Labor MP Jim Chalmers and the Member for Stretton Labor’s Duncan Pegg also spoke at the event.
More than 30 per cent of locals in the Stretton electorate were born overseas - including about 14 per cent from China and six per cent from Taiwan, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Muslims make up about 8.3 per cent of the local population. The most common religion recorded is 'no religion', followed by Catholic and Buddhists.
