The controversial Rise Up Australia Party, known for headline-making, anti-Islam and anti-multiculturalism policies, has endorsed Dale Edwards as their candidate for Leichhardt. 

The socially conservative RUAP officially launched their election campaign at the start of August, with Mr Edwards of North Cairns, describing their premise as “to keep Australia Australian. In other words, keep the Judeo-Christian values in place, and one of the main concepts is wanting a multi-ethnic Australia (like we’ve got), but we don’t want multiculturalism, which is the idea of having [migrant] enclaves of people.”

It’s the first election Rise Up Australia (RUAP) has contested, but Mr Edwards said party members had been craving for almost a decade to enter a federal election campaign.

“There’s been a background organisation, [controversial evangelical group] Catch The Fire Ministry that’s been praying for 10 years for this party to be formed,” Mr Edwards said.

Mr Edwards admitted the scope of multiculturalism in Queensland is “probably not much at this point in time,” but said “We don’t want Australia to go down the same situation as England and Europe. It’s really a stand against that situation.”

“We want one culture and one law, we could conceivably have three laws in Australia: Australian law, Indigenous law, and Sharia law…We just want plain, simple Australian law to continue for the future. And particularly not Sharia law,” Mr Edwards said said, criticising various aspects of the Islamic legal system.

“If you’re caught thieving, you’ll lose your right hand. The covering up of women – full headwear and just a slit for their eyes,” he said, adding the RUAP was opposed to Muslim women wearing face-coverings [like the burqa or niqab], which prevents identification of the wearer. He said laws should allow Muslim women to wear “headscarves, just like the Catholic nuns wear something, but not something that covers the face, because it’s dangerous for driving, [and] you can’t determine whether it’s a male or female, so it’s a tool for predators.”

“We’re at a risk overall. Centrelink already allows [Muslim men] to have four wives, and that affects our economy. And [if] each of those women have two children each, they’ll outnumber Australians.” 

Saturday’s federal election will be Mr Edwards’ first experience running as a political candidate.

“I saw the disastrous situation Australia was getting itself into and I felt inclined to get involved and get my hands dirty,” he explained. As a teenager, Mr Edwards was involved in the Australian Labor Party at his father’s insistence, “to learn the mechanics of politics.” He said he later “stood against Labor unions…when they started to bring in homosexuality, [and] withdrew from being a Union member in protest.” Before participating in the RUAP, he supported local candidates of Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party.

Mr Edwards said if elected, his priorities would include limiting foreign ownership and ensuring a minimum of 51 per cent of Australian infrastructure is owned by Australians and support for farmers, “so they get a better share of the money that comes in”.

He also stressed RUAP is “very much in favour of the traditional unit -  I was also a Christian school principal – so I’m in favour of father/mother/children. So we’re against gay activism and gay principles, but we love gay people. We distinguish between loving the people and what they stand for.”

Relevant background info:

• Last month, Party Leader Daniel Nalliah, a Sri Lankan-born Christian Pastor, told SBS World News Australia Radio, "One of the greatest responsibilities that should be required of all visitors, residents and citizens is to integrate into our way of life, to celebrate many races in this great country but to have only one culture.”
• In 2008, The Guardian UK reported “Sharia courts have been delivering judgments in the UK since last year, and currently operate in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry and Manchester, with plans to expand into Scotland.”
• Seven US states have enacted anti-Sharia legislation since 2010, though PolicyMic reported “banning Sharia law in any state is a superfluous decision because sharia law actually requires Muslims to obey the laws their nation. So any Muslim who lives in a non-Muslim country as a citizen or immigrant is obligated by Islamic law to follow the law of that country they reside in.”
• Fred Nile, 78, is a conservative morals campaigner and ordained Christian Minister. He has been a member of the NSW Legislative Council for most of the years since 1981. A Queensland Times report from July of this year quoted Mr Nile's submission to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into same-sex marriage. In it, Mr Nile says homosexuality should still be classed as a "mental disorder", and "homiage" and "lesiage" could be alternative terms available to "those homosexuals" who want to define their relationships.