Months after turning down a proposal for a Muslim school, residents of Camden in Sydney's west have welcomed plans for a Catholic school in the historic town.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports the Camden/Macarthur Residents' Group that fought a Muslim proposal for a school in rural Camden has welcomed Catholic plans to build a school nearby because "Catholics are part of our community."
Residents group president, Emil Sremchevich, said the Catholic school plan "ticked all the right boxes", even though he is yet to see its development application.
"Catholics are part of our community so we should be supporting it on this basis alone. We have to welcome them," Mr Sremchevich told the Herald.
"To become part of a community, you need to live in the community. You can't just turn up."
The Quranic Society said Mr Sremchevich's comments were racist but he rejected that tag.
"Why is that racist? Why is it discriminatory? It's very simple: people like some things but don't like other things. Some of us like blondes, some of us like brunettes. Some of us like Fords, some of us like Holdens. Why is it xenophobic just because I want to make a choice? If I want to like some people and not like other people, that's the nature of the beast."
Mr Sremchevich was among those who applauded a Camden Council decision in May to reject the Quranic Society's application to build a 1,200 student school at Burragorang Road, Cawdor.
Now the Catholic Education Office of Wollongong has bought the 150 student Mater Dei special needs school in Macquarie Grove Road.
It wants to retain Mater Dei and build a 1,000 student high school on the same plot, which is already zoned for a school.
The Quranic Society application would have required rezoning.
A spokesman for the Quranic Society, Issam Obeid, said: "Everyone can see there is a double standard ... No one knows anything about the Catholic school and they say, 'Yeah, give it a tick already.' I think racism is affecting this."
A spokesman for Wollongong's Catholic Education Office, Peter McPherson, said more schools were needed in south-west Sydney to cope with population growth.
"Our site is currently a school zoning so we don't believe we will have any problems with rural zoning issues," he said.
SOURCE
Catholics welcome, Muslims not (Sydney Morning Herald, 9/9/08)
We'll take Catholic school - not Muslim (The Australian, 9/9/08)
LINKS
Catholic Education Office Wollongong