Geert Wilders visit: Hotel group warns members to consider security risks
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) is urging its members to carefully consider booking requests for controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders, saying most venues will not be able to manage the associated security risks.
Mr Wilders is due to launch the anti-Islam Australian Liberty Alliance political party in Perth at a secret location next Tuesday.
He has previously labelled Islam "retarded", called the Prophet Mohammed a paedophile and compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett last week said he would not allow any State Government facility to be used for the launch.
It was a repeat of the ban Mr Barnett implemented when Mr Wilders visited Australia in 2013.
At the time Mr Wilders was booked to speak at a Perth hotel but the venue cancelled days before the speech.
AHA's state chief executive Bradley Woods said venues needed to make an informed decision.
"The views of Mr Wilders are not necessarily those of mainstream Australians," Mr Woods said.
"They do verge on the border of a fairly small minority, that members of the AHA would be mindful to take those into account when they're considering any request.
"It would have to be something they consider very deeply so they don't put their business and their fellow patrons at risk.
"They need to be given a full consideration of what the implications are and what type of attention or protests that could arise.
"There's a range of issues here for any business to consider, some of them will be well in excess of what they could normally handle from a security point of view."
Hotels applying 'double standard' knocking back Wilders
Australian Liberty Alliance national president Debbie Robinson said one five-star hotel in Perth had taken her deposit for the Tuesday launch but cancelled when management realised Mr Wilders would be involved.
Ms Robinson thought hotels were reluctant to book the launch because they did not want to offend anyone and were concerned about possible repercussions.
"I know it's not just because of security, because some of these hotels have had Commonwealth Heads of Government [Meeting] events," she said.
"They're setting themselves up as keepers of what you should and should not do.
"It's interesting what happens in this country. You can have Islamic speakers, we have guys coming from Hizb ut-Tahrir, they have no problem getting hotels and platforms.
"But when an elected member of a democracy with no criminal record who does not incite violence cannot be guaranteed a venue, then there's something wrong, there's absolutely double standards."
Muslim Youth WA president Shameema Kolia said she believed most Australians would be repelled by Mr Wilders' views and was not surprised he was having trouble finding a venue.
It is understood the launch will be held at a private venue.
Source: ABC News, Nicolas Perpitch, 13th October 2015
Originally published as: Geert Wilders visit: Hotel group warns members to consider security risks
