Islamic school plans halted

Approved Islamic school plans halted
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/16/2599150.htm

Posted Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:50am AEST Updated Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:00am AEST
Plans for the school have been thrown into limbo. (AAP Image: Alan Porritt)

Map: Hoxton Park 2171
Plans to build an Islamic school at Hoxton Park, in Sydney's south west, have been thrown into limbo, despite being approved by Liverpool Council last night.
The application was halted after three councillors lodged a recision motion later in the meeting.
Liverpool council set up an independent panel to examine community concerns about the proposal for an 800 student Islamic school in Hoxton Park.
Most of the criticisms centred on the traffic problems residents said it would create.
But the panel recommended the school be built and last night a majority of councillors voted to approve the project.
The school's spokesman Ikebal Patel from the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils says some of the opposition was based on prejudice.
"There is a movement of people within the greater Sydney area who have taken it to heart that anything that is Islamic, they would oppose."
"There has been a very rigorous process that we have gone through up until now, an overwhelming majority of councillors had voted for the school to proceed."
The New South Wales Association of Independent Schools says it seems traffic objections have become code for prejudice when it comes to approving new Islamic schools in Sydney.
The Association's executive director Doctor Geoff Newcombe says the Islamic community only wants what other faiths have.
"Our feeling is, it doesn't matter if its an Islamic school, a government school, a Catholic school as long as it satisfies planning regulations and is given the opportunity to adjust plans to satisfy if that's the case," he said.
"It seems more than a coincidence that each time an Islamic school applies to set up, there are objections about traffic congestion.'
The motion to reverse the school's approval will go before the council at the end of the month.

As far as I am concerned, where there is an islamic school there will be a mosque...no doubt there is already many mosques already in NSW, and West Sydney is full of muslims as it is...I believe it is where David Hicks ... you know him as...Our intrepid Aussie from South Australia turned muslim and was just over with his muslim mates in Afghanistan / Pakistan touring around in the name of adventure when he all of a sudden got caught up with a buch of terrorists only he didn't realise what they were..... yeah right!!!!

But anyway, I am just glad we have some people in NSW voiving their concerns and putting a stop to the islamic school...Why can't the muslims call it what it really is...a madrass??? It is what they call a school isn't it?

Maybe the following story might shed some light on this.

Police reveal counter-terrorism raids
Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:30am AEDT
Police and intelligence officers are poring over documents seized in a fresh round of counter-terrorism raids in New South Wales.[MORE]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2006/03/21/1596619.htm

Posted Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:30am AEDT Updated Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:03am AEDT

Police and intelligence officers are poring over documents seized in a fresh round of counter-terrorism raids in New South Wales.
The action is part of the ongoing Operation Pendennis, which has resulted in multiple terrorism-related arrests and charges in Sydney and Melbourne since November last year.
On March 9 Federal Police, their New South Wales counterparts and ASIO raided homes at Hoxton Park and Bankstown, in Sydney's south-west.
A number of prison cells at Goulburn jail were also raided.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and ASIO are now assessing documents seized in the raids.
No arrests were made and no homes were searched in Victoria.
The AFP has confirmed the raids are related to Operation Pendennis.
Last November, police claimed they had foiled a major terrorist plot when they simultaneously raided homes in Sydney and Melbourne in the early hours of the morning.
Meanwhile the lawyer for a man arrested during terrorism raids in Sydney last year says authorities breached legal privilege by taking documents from his client's cell during a jail raid.
Lawyer Greg Walsh says Omar Baladjam's cell and family home were raided.
Mr Walsh says confidential notes Mr Baladjam had made were removed from his cell.
"I'm very concerned that authorities, knowing that I was going to visit Mr Baladjam, would in those circumstances seize documents that he'd prepared for the sole purpose of seeking and obtaining legal advice from his lawyer," Mr Walsh said.
"So there's a remarkable coincidence that authorities raid his former home and raid his cell, and take confidential records or documents that he's prepared to get legal advice [on].
"So any citizen in the community out there can be subject to obviously an arbitrary raid and it would be simple outrage that such documents could be seized by authorities in these circumstances."