Straight talk Down Under

I spent several weeks in Australia a few years back, and there's much to like about the place. After joking I might move there if I ever had to leave America, my new friends warned me I'd definitely anchor what, to them, is the far right end of the political spectrum (nothing new there, and that's not the insult some would imagine it to be). However left-leaning their normal politics may be, it's nice to know they can still produce an administration willing to speak truth to a group that desperately needs to be confronted with it:

The Howard Government's multicultural spokesman, Andrew Robb, yesterday told an audience of 100 imams who address Australia's mosques that these were tough times requiring great personal resolve. Mr Robb also called on them to shun a victim mentality that branded any criticism as discrimination.

"We live in a world of terrorism where evil acts are being regularly perpetrated in the name of your faith," Mr Robb said at the Sydney conference.

"And because it is your faith that is being invoked as justification for these evil acts, it is your problem.

"You can't wish it away, or ignore it, just because it has been caused by others.

"Instead, speak up and condemn terrorism, defend your role in the way of life that we all share here in Australia."

Well said!