Padraic P McGuinness writes:



The reaction of the self-proclaimed “progressives” to the Macquarie
University Associate Professor Andrew Fraser’s comments on immigration
is no less disgraceful for its predictability. I do not necessarily
agree with Fraser’s views on African and other immigrants, but he of
course has the right to express them.

I invited Dr Fraser to a quiet drink on Friday night, to which he
agreed, and found him a thoughtful and intelligent person and a rather
enjoyable companion. He may or may not be correct in his thesis, but it
is certainly worth considering, and even if he is, he is speaking only
of an average, so of course there will be black people of higher
intelligence than the average European. He may or may not be “racist”
(an over-used term), but if so he is still less so than the
“progressives” whose detestation of John Howard is simply a reflection
of their detestation of the bulk of Australians. The elite’s attitude
throughout the whole sorry Indonesia/East Timor saga betrayed a
particular strain of self-satisfied and ugly racism.

In any event, while we might not agree with him (and I certainly don’t
agree with all that Fraser has to say), we must respect his right to
put it, and put it forcefully. Universities are meant to be about
debating ideas; would that other Australian academics, most of who
aren’t worth feeding, had the inclination to do other than toe the
“progressive” line. That Macquarie University punishes him for his
sincerely held views is regrettable, though not altogether surprising.
That the elites have attacked him, due to their own failings rather
than his, is merely predictable.