Stephanie Banister

[6souls]

An Australian election candidate has made the wrong kind of headlines after a gaffe-strewn interview in which she mistook Islam for a country.

Stephanie Banister, a candidate with the anti-immigration One Nation Party, clocked up multiple mistakes in a TV interview with Channel 7 News.

The 27-year-old also confused the term "haram" (forbidden) with the Koran and suggested Jews worship Jesus Christ.

The interview, which aired early this week, has gone viral on social media.

''I don't oppose Islam as a country, umm, but I do feel that their laws should not be welcome here in Australia,'' Ms Banister told Seven News reporter Erin Edwards.

Ms Banister, who is standing for the parliamentary seat of Rankin in Brisbane, also claimed that 2% of Australians ''follow haram'' when presumably she meant the Islamic text, the Koran.

Haram is a Muslim term used for something that is forbidden or punishable.

Ms Banister then repeatedly used the word haram when she apparently meant to say "halal".

Halal in fact means the opposite and is commonly used to refer to the Islamic laws on food preparation.

When subsequently asked if she opposed the Jewish laws of kosher as well, the would-be MP replied: "Jews aren't under haram. They have their own religion which follows Jesus Christ."

During the interview Ms Banister was also asked to name the candidates from the two mainstream parties in her seat, but came up short and admitted: "I'm still learning all of the names of people in politics."

Some commentators here are making comparisons with the former US Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, who became infamous for her media slip-ups when running for office in 2008.

Even before this interview Ms Banister was regarded as a rank outsider to win her seat.

The mother-of-two rose to prominence when she was arrested for going into a supermarket and putting stickers saying "halal food funds terrorism" on Nestle products.

She was charged with "contaminating or interfering with goods".

Ms Banister will be forbidden from standing in the 7 September election if she is convicted before polling day.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23628092
http://au.news.yahoo.com/election/a/...n-sarah-palin/
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-pol...809-2rlx4.html

UPDATE: Stephanie Banister, 27, was running for the seat of Rankin in Queensland but One Nation leader Jim Savage told reporters on Saturday Ms Banister has decided to withdraw following the fallout from her interview with the Seven Network.

http://www.news.com.au/national-news...-1226694578464

[Suvhater]

why must i only have 1 face and 2 palms

[Mazmaz]

why must i only have 1 face and 2 palms

lmao

[BaneTheBrawler]

good to have confirmation that 'murica hasn't monopolized stupid

[Cutriss]

good to have confirmation that 'murica hasn't monopolized stupid

It's well established that Oz imports large quantities of stupid from the US.

[Omniyoji]

Vegemite, lol

[Athas]

While some of the stupidity on display here is impressive, I'm even more taken aback with the fact that she saw actual consequences rather then encouragement for it.

The comparison was made to Sarah Palin and if that had been the case she'd be on TV the next day saying that yes Islam is a country because she meant that the Muslim Brotherhood wants all Arab nations to follow Islamic law and become a new caliphate and a million other excuses that would have been met with encouragement rather then condemnation.

[mightyg]

It's well established that Oz imports large quantities of stupid from the US.

Come on man, give credit where credit is due. No need to import it. I think there's one thing we can all agree on in this forum and that is that stupid does not discriminate

[Tajin]

Best section name lol

[shaddix]

I can't believe this is real