"Us" vs. "Them"

Australia's Treasurer, Peter Costello, made headlines last week via a speech where he effectively denounced multiculturalism - a bold, and perhaps, assinine statement in a land that is increasingly non-Anglo. And of course, when pressed to single out a group for discrimination, it should come as no surprise that he chose to target Muslims. In his speech, Costello went to great pains to criticise those that come to Australia intent on challenging "the rule of law", and has proposed updating immigration policy to keep undesireables out and revoke citizenship from those that stray from the Australian way. Needless to say, there are heaps of non-Muslim Australians that have trouble with the rule of law, so I'm not sure why Muslims should get special mention (other than they're the people some think its OK to hate these days). Furthermore, anyone living outside the rule of law is generally referred to as a criminal, and I beleive there are already systems in place for dealing with such folks. Dare I say, this seems like an attempt to motivate the conservative base with rhetoric that sounds tough, but is in effect, meaningless. Or perhaps Costello was just trying to outdo MP Danna Vale who, in her attempt last month to rally opposition to the drug RU486, suggested Australia will soon be a Muslim nation, because "we are aborting ouselves out of existence". I'm assuming by "ourselves" she was referring to white/Christian Australians, but who knows? Vale also happens to be one of the MPs who supported recreating Gallipoli in Australia.