𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

An Australian politician has warned that the UK is trying to shut the door after the horse has bolted regarding the government’s migration policy. Bob Katter, 81, the Father of Australia’s House of Representatives, has served as the federal member for Kennedy in Queensland since 1993. He leads Katter’s Australian Party (KAP), and advocates a tougher approach to immigration.

Now Mr Katter has given a stark prognosis of the small boats crisis – and given advice on how he’d tackle it.

He said of small boats crossing the English Channel: “If they could get to England in a boat, if I was English, I’d say, ‘Well, you can get home in a boat. You’ve made it here in a boat. Clearly, you can make it back again, so you’re not landing on English soil.”

Mr Katter added that Australia “did a pretty good job at getting rid” of migrants making similarly perilous journeys to its shores from countries like Indonesia, Iran and Sri Lanka. This peaked in 2013, as 20,000 attempted the crossing. Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott promised tougher rules, which involved intercepting migrant boats, and either returning them to where they travelled from, or taking those on board to overseas island detention centres.

“The same thing is happening now, in England,” Mr Katter said.

“Whilst I’m at a distance, and I don’t follow international affairs, I have followed migration in England, because I think there’s been a cancer upon the soul of the British people, and appeasement from the right, and the usual craziness on the left.

“The combination of that has seen the British people, in my opinion, placed in serious jeopardy.”

The MP suggested that people new to the UK have “voting strengths now”, which will “enable them to kick the door even more open”.

He added that he feared a backlash from Latinos in the United States, due to Donald Trump’s hardline policies regarding the country’s southern border. But it “could be argued that Latinos put him in office”, Mr Katter said.

“Government ineptitude” led to 15 being shot on Bondi Beach in December, he suggested. Official records indicate that one of the alleged killers, Sajid Akram, 50, was originally from India, moving to Australia from Hyderabad in 1998. He was shot and killed.

His son, Naveed Akram, 24, who is accused of being the second attacker, is an Australian-born citizen.

Mr Katter called for a ban on Middle Eastern and North African migration in January.

He told reporters: “What the hell are you allowing them into this country for? They’re never going to assimilate.”

But he insisted his comments were not an attack on Islamic countries, suggesting that Indonesia was an example of a tolerant Muslim-majority nation, Sky News Australia reported.

“We could not hope for better neighbours than Indonesia. So it’s not the religion. It’s the Middle East and North Africa,” Mr Katter said.

As regards migration, it is a case in the UK of “closing the gate after the horse has bolted”, Mr Katter told The Express.

“There is no migration without assimilation,” he added.

“Do they come from a democracy? No. Do they come from a rule of law country? No. Do they come from a country with Christianity? No.

“When I say Christianity, Jesus Christ said that you’re supposed to love other people, and you have responsibility to other people. It’s a pretty simple message.”

Sikhism is “almost identical”, he suggested, “right down to the founder being tortured to death”.

They “preach that you’ve got a responsibility to your fellow man”, the MP said.

He also mentioned Buddhism is “very peaceful”.

Mr Katter has also said that he regretted not punching a reporter after his own Middle Eastern, Lebanese heritage was questioned.

A video clip of him threatening to hit a journalist, Josh Bavas, as he was questioned about his support for an anti-immigration march went viral last year.

Mr Katter said: “He deserved a good hiding; my only regret is that I didn’t finish it off.

“But the reason for that was, I looked down and he was frozen with fear, and I’m sure he wet his pants. That saved him from getting a good hiding, and me going to jail.”

When asked what he thinks makes someone an Aussie, Mr Katter said: “Because he wants to be an Aussie.

“He loves this country, and he loves being an Australian.

“That’s why I didn’t like him calling me that [Lebanese], because every Australian, I don’t care if he’s a Sikh, from the Punjab, and he’s been here for three seconds, but if he’s beating his chest and saying ‘I’m an Australian beauty’, then he’s an Australian.”

French riot police are now operating on the country’s northern beaches under a deal aimed at deterring small boat crossings, the Prime Minister has announced.

At the G7 summit in Evian, Sir Keir Starmer said the new unit had been deployed as part of a “landmark” deal with France that stopped almost half of all attempted crossings in May. The deal, agreed in April, has seen 50 officers from the Compagnie Republicaine de Securite (CRS), France’s main anti-riot unit, sent to the Channel coast.

They have reinforced the existing detachment of 75 specialist officers from the Compagnie de Marche established last year.

The Prime Minister said: “These elite units are just one element of the landmark deal between our countries that is taking our collaboration to the next level.

“Operations like this meant that almost half of all attempted crossings were halted by the French last month – so we’re boosting them further to continue to drive down crossings.”