Immigration quote misattributed to former Australian prime minister

Thousands of people have shared a passage about immigration that has been falsely attributed to Australia's former prime minister Julia Gillard. 

Multiple posts say: “Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks. Separately, Gillard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying she supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques.”

The passage goes on to supposedly quote Ms Gillard speaking about how “immigrants not Australians” should adapt and learn English, and about Christianity’s place in Australian society. It claims she said: “If you aren’t happy here then LEAVE. We didn’t force you to come here.” 

Posts sharing the passage also say: “Australian Prime Minister does it again!! This woman should be appointed Queen of the World. Truer words have never been spoken.”

These quotes have been attributed to Ms Gillard for some years, since at least 2011. It circulated widely in 2020—one post has more than 34,000 shares while another has almost 6,000—and has also been shared again recently. 

However, there’s no evidence that Ms Gillard said any of this. The passage appears to be compiled based on remarks made by Australian politicians that preceded her and a US veteran. 

Ms Gillard was in office between 2010 and 2013, but many of the posts still refer to her as the country’s prime minister. 

The same passage has previously been attributed to Donald Trump, a claim that has also been debunked.  

Full Fact has previously written about many examples of quotes being misattributed to politicians, including Rishi Sunak, Sadiq Khan, Naz Shah and Diane Abbott, as well as other public figures.

You can also find more of our work on immigration claims here. 

No evidence Ms Gillard said this

Full Fact could not find any evidence of Ms Gillard making these comments. 

There are also no reports of a policy requiring Muslims practising sharia law to leave Australia. 

In a 2011 interview she said: “We don't say to people ‘you can't worship this way if you want to come to Australia’. That's not the Australian tradition, it's not the Australian way.”

In a 2012 speech on multiculturalism, she described it as “where the right to maintain one's customs, language and religion is a [sic] balanced by an equal responsibility to learn English, find work, respect our culture and heritage, and accept women as full equals”. She did not mention a specific religion or group.

Where does the passage come from?

This passage being attributed to Ms Gillard appears to be based on comments from a mix of sources. 

The part of the posts referring to Islam, sharia law and mosques resembles remarks made by Australian politicians in the years preceding Ms Gillard’s tenure.

Then-prime minister John Howard reportedly announced in 2005 that Islamic schools and mosques would be monitored as part of efforts to counter domestic terrorism. Al-Jazeera reported: “Howard said he supported spying on mosques to observe training of imams and what was being taught in Islamic schools”.

That same year, in reference to the teaching of Muslim schoolchildren, the education minister, Dr Brendan Nelson, reportedly said that “if people don’t want to support and accept and adopt and teach Australian values then, they should clear off”. 

There are also reports from both 2006 and 2009 of Australia’s former treasurer, Peter Costello, specifying Muslims in calls for the public to respect Australian values. He reportedly said: “There are countries that apply religious or sharia law—Saudi Arabia and Iran come to mind. If a person wants to live under sharia law these are countries where they might feel at ease. But not Australia”.

The rest of the passage, which most Facebook posts include, is almost identical to an opinion piece originally written by a US Air Force veteran, Barry Loudermilk, who now appears to be a Republican congressman for the 11th district of Georgia. Full Fact has contacted Representative Loudermilk for comment and will update this article if we receive a response. 

The opinion piece was reportedly first published in a local newspaper in Georgia in 2001.

However, the passage being attributed to Ms Gillard has been edited to refer to an Australian context, rather than the US. For example, it mentions the terrorist attack in Bali in 2002, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, where the original article talks about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.