Brexiteer and voice of far Right opposes ban on Muslim migrants

Nigel Farage is a former UKIP leader, and is in Australia for a national tour. Picture: Matthew Poon

British politician Nigel Farage says Australia should strongly reject calls for a ban on Muslim migrants but must cut the pace of immigration to avoid ­ghettos, cut congestion and ensure “quality of life”.

Mr Farage, who began a ­national speaking tour in Perth last night, said he was “bewildered” that anti-racism activists were threatening to protest outside the event.

“The only people who think I’m racist tend to be upper middle-class and where Daddy’s got lots of money,” he told The Australian yesterday.

Mr Farage is one of the most divisive political figures of recent years and has courted controversy with many of his policies, including his belief that Britain should reject migrants with HIV because they would be a burden on the health system.

He will meet several Australian politicians during his tour. Among them will be Tony Abbott, who he said he greatly admired for stopping the flow of asylum-seekers into Australia.

The former leader of the UK Independence Party was a key player in the 2016 “Brexit” vote and has forged close links to US President Donald Trump. “A global revolution happened in 2016,” he said. “We had Brexit and Trump within months of each other, and I am the only human being on Earth who was actually in the front of both of them, which was a remarkable thing to be part of.

“I come with a message. If anybody in Australia looks at Brexit and shakes their head, looks at Trump and puts their head in their hands, looks at Italy and begins to despair, I’ve got some really bad news for you: the global revolution has barely started.”

Mr Farage said he strongly opposed calls by some Australian politicians — including senators Pauline Hanson and Fraser ­Anning — for a ban on Muslim ­migrants entering the country.

“I think that in the great battle against Islamism, if we choose to alienate the whole of Islam, we will lose,” he said.

“I feel that very, very strongly.

“I get criticised by many on the Right for saying that. There are some on the Right who seem to want an all-out cultural war against the entire religion, and I think that would be one of the biggest mistakes we could make.

“But being careful about who comes in is absolutely vital, and integration is very, very important. From Europe, I think the danger of divided communities, the danger of ghettoised cities, is there to see.”

He said cutting population growth in Australia would improve the lives of millions of ­people. “All of the people I know who’ve come to Australia over the last 50 years, one of the main arguments for coming has been the quality of life,” he said.

“If you clog your cities up more and more, you have to ask yourself a very real question whether that is a benefit. We are living in an age of global corporatism. Who are the biggest drivers of the argument of free movement of people? The giant multinationals. Why? They want cheap labour.”

Mr Farage said he believed Australia would reap benefits from Britain’s decision to leave the EU, including through closer commercial and trade links.

“One of the things about Brexit is we will be free once again to chart our own course in the world.

“What we did to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and others in the 1970s was a dreadful thing. We turned our back on our friends.”

Last night, Perth activist group United Against Bigotry and ­Racism was planning to protest outside Mr Farage’s speech at the Perth Town Hall. “Figures such as Farage come to Australia to try to galvanise a far Right that is capable of growing and becoming more organised,” the group said.