Apple a day keeps terror away? Health experts say no link between Islam and terrorism

A top health lobby tells parliament there’s no link between Islam and terror. The Public Health Association of Australia’s submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, May 5:

The PHAA urges the committee to include the recommendation in its report which disavows the notion there is any inherent link between Islam and terror.

Are they joking? The Australian, yesterday:

The suicide bomb attack, by British-born Salman Abedi, 22, reportedly radicalised by Islamic State recruiters, has reignited public tensions around the issue, with mounting concerns about radical Islamism …

Some common sense from Tony Abbott on Sydney’s 2GB, yesterday:

We keep tiptoeing around this subject … the problem is nearly all of the terrorist incidents are associated with people yelling out “Allahu Akbar” as they kill.

And something horrendous from the ABC. Radio National’s Jonathan Green attacking The Australian’s Jennifer Oriel on Twitter, yesterday:

Perhaps if Muslims could wear some readily identifiable marker on their clothing … some sort of sewn patch …

If Jonathan actually read Jennifer, instead of insulting her with Nazi gibes, he might learn something … Oriel in The Australian, yesterday:

In the information age, intelligence services would be better to admit the threat of jihad while repeating the obvious truth that not all ­Muslims are jihadis.

In other news, Australia is still in a tizz over Margaret Court and gay marriage. Herald Sun, Saturday:

Court found herself on the receiving end of serious criticism this week after … an open letter stating she would boycott Qantas in protest over the airline’s support for same-sex marriage.

Graham Richardson speaks for a nation. The Australian, yesterday:

To say I am sick and tired of the debate on marriage equality would be an understatement.

Court has always had interesting views. The Guardian, January 30, 1970:

South Africans have this thing better organised than any other country, particularly America.

What you talkin’ about, Marg? Court in The Guardian, continued:

Margaret Court, of Australia, denied apartheid was entirely faulty.

Is Court really the hero traditional marriage needs? Will this ever end? Richo in The Australian, yesterday:

Both sides of this marriage equality debate have no concept of courtesy, or democracy, and both have demonstrated such a lack of civility that the idea of a ­referendum is dead.

And we’re at horrid Newspoll No 13 for the government. The Australian, yesterday:

The Turnbull government’s bid to win back disaffected voters with a “middle ground” budget has stalled, with the Coalition trailing Labor 47-53 per cent in two-party terms …

All together now … Malcolm Turnbull speaking in Canberra, September 14, 2015:

We have lost 30 Newspolls in a row.

Luckily for Turnbull, Abbott is very sympathetic. The former prime minister on 2GB yesterday:

It wasn’t fair to judge my government by polls and now it’s not fair to judge the Turnbull government entirely by the polls.