Diary

Saturday, 14th May 2011

Cory Bernardi opens his Diary

At the restaurant entrance, I am instantly assessed by another professional life-preserver before being escorted to a private booth, clearly chosen for its strategic value. There I am introduced to my luncheon companion: Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, which has gained 24 seats of the 150-member Dutch House of Representatives. His party was founded only five years ago, but its success is easily explained: Wilders addresses legitimate issues that most of Europe’s mainstream parties dare not touch. Chief among these is whether Muslim immigrants will conform to prevailing Western values, or whether western Europeans will increasingly be made to conform to the values of their immigrant groups. Alas, his efforts have earned him multiple serious threats of personal harm and continuing legal battles over his right to free speech. In a nation where Islamists have already killed politicians for criticising their ideology, it is no wonder Wilders has security guards.

After an hour and a half, Wilders has proved to be charming, charismatic and politically astute. He is very well informed about his chosen subject matter and is clearly not the ‘extremist’ that the left-liberal press love to make him out to be. But then again, few of us are.

After extending an invitation to Wilders to visit Australia, I took my leave en route to Brussels for another series of meetings about the increasingly dysfunctional EU. Taxi drivers all over the world seem to know how to run the country. Brussels is no different, except my local driver wants to prove it. Upon hearing I am a politician interested in the impact of migration, he takes me on a lengthy drive (with corresponding commentary) around the suburbs of the Belgian capital. It is clear that the unanimously passed 2010 burqa ban is not being enforced by the interim government. After nearly an hour, having returned to my hotel, the driver refuses all attempts to pay him. That’s certainly a first.