The power of one

Sydney is the Sodom of his imagination. Filth reigns on television. Brothels and casinos boom. Kids read Peter Carey for the HSC. Abortion flourishes. Naked youths on bus stop hoardings flaunt designer perfumes. Mardi Gras effortlessly survives his prayers for rain. Thirty years in public life have seen Fred Nile achieve little but headlines and his own survival. Sex doesn't sell as it once did. Diatribes against dirty books only make it to the quirky columns, somewhere down the back of the paper near the sudoku. More and more Nile owes his place in the news pages to his views on race.

A few days after Tampa, Nile took his party in a totally new direction, demanding Christian refugees be given priority over Muslims. "What countries are persecuting Muslims?" he asked. "NONE. No Muslim is being persecuted because he is Muslim! These illegal boat people are leaving Muslim nations and are travelling through Muslim nations … On the other hand, millions of Christians are being persecuted and even murdered by militant Muslims in Muslim nations …" Nile reaped headlines with every attack on Muslims that followed. They ran for weeks after he called for banning the chador to guard against hidden bombs. He raised the perils of Islam in his 2004 Senate campaign and the centrepiece of his state campaign last year was the call for an immediate moratorium on Islamic immigration. His vote rose to 4.4 per cent. David Marr writes.

SMH 5 Jan 2008