Controversial star of SBS’ Go Back to Where You Came From Kim Vuga has announced that she is starting her own political party, imaginatively called the Love Australia or Leave Party. Vuga told the ABC’s Tom Iggulden that “Islam is on trial right now, in Australia and globally” and that she was already looking at preference deals with her campaign manager, David Moyle from Townsville. Moyle has experience with campaigns, Vuga says — which seems to be as chairman of the Townsville Ratepayers Association.

Also on the topic of new political parties, right-wing bloggers and columnists have been frothing at the mouth today after reports that Sydney man Diaa Mohamed is launching a political party to represent Australian Muslims, called the Australian Muslim Party. This morning Andrew Bolt blogged: “This party will represent Muslims against the rest and will inevitably trade in grievances, real or imagined.”

As it stands, there is currently two parties registered with the Australian Electoral Commission with the word “Christian” in their name — the Australian Christians and the Christian Democratic Party, while the Australian Liberty Alliance lists stopping the “Islamisation of Australia” as one of its key policy areas. So trading in grievances, real or imagined, isn’t anything new.

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