By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CASEY Councillor Rosalie Crestani was once again the MC for the latest Reclaim Australia rally, this time held outside Parliament House in Canberra.
The Reclaim Australia rally, held on Saturday 6 February, was the group’s largest yet with several hundred people turning out to the event on the Parliament House lawn.
Saturday’s rally was the first in a series of global rallies against the Islamisation of the West organised by German anti-immigration movement the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA).
No arrests were made, with roughly 50 AFP and regular officers monitoring the anti-Islam rally to which only a few dozen counter-protesters attended.
The Reclaim Australia supporters were made up of members from Danny Nalliah’s Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP), the United Patriot Front and their aligned political party Fortitude, Party For Freedom, and several others.
“We made a stand against Marxism views and Islamic fundamentalism,” Cr Crestani, the deputy leader of RUAP, said.
“We want to get a path back into parliament. We’re finding not many politicians are talking about this, there may be quiet support for changing terrorism laws, but we need to change the situation at a cultural level.”
South Eastern Metropolitan state Greens MP Nina Springle last year criticised Cr Crestani for being the MC at other Reclaim rallies in Melbourne’s CBD and Melton.
The war of words between the two women led to Ms Springle inviting Cr Crestani to a lunch at Parliament House in September, with the MP saying she wanted to “move past unhelpful conflicts”.
Ms Springle had previously said Cr Crestani should be “condemned” for participating in the rallies.
“Given the great contribution that generations of migrants have made to Australia, it is sad that Cr Crestani saw fit to participate in this way,” Ms Springle said at the time.
“Her participation must be condemned in the strongest terms.
“Fear and misunderstanding are the enemies of Australia’s peaceful, harmonious and multicultural way of life.”
