For several years now, a harsh statement attributed to the former head of the Australian government has been circulating on the Internet. We have verified the authenticity of this quote.
In a short version, the statement attributed to Gillard is: “Muslims who want to live according to Islamic Sharia law must leave Australia... It is not the Australians, but the immigrants who must adapt!” But there is also extended a version of a quotation that represents an entire speech. In it, Gillard states that Muslims promoting Sharia law "were asked to leave Australia on Wednesday because Australia views Muslims as fanatical terrorists" and also demands that they not pray in public and learn English. On RuNet, this statement is often accompanied by a preamble: “Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard should become the queen of the world.”
In 2025, this quote was shared by users "Peekaboo", where the corresponding post received 772,000 views at the time of writing this analysis, actress Olga Budina in his Telegram channel, as well as users Facebook.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2001 there were 281,000 Muslims in the country, and by 2021 their number has grown to 813,000. Among the Australian right and some other political forces, this trend has more than once caused concern and calls for tightening migration policy, and in some cases - outright manifestations Islamophobia.
In 2010 Julia Gillard became the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Australia and held it until 2013. During her reign, she was not remembered for any openly anti-Islamic steps. Yes, shortly before his appointment Gillard critically spoke about wearing the burqa (Muslim women's clothing that completely covers the face and body) in Australia, but was skeptical about the idea of banning it. The following year, responding to a question about immigrants, a politician statedthat discrimination on the basis of race or religion is unacceptable in her country, and condemned the opposition's attempts to organize a debate on this topic. "We don't tell people, 'You can't pray like that if you want to come to Australia,'" Gillard said. In September 2012 she called the disgusting anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which sparked protests in Sydney. At the same time, the politician, like most influential Islamic organizations in the country, condemned the violence that accompanied these protests.
So the real statements and actions of Julia Gillard at the head of the Australian government contradict the rhetoric attributed to her in viral publications. "Verified" studied transcripts Gillard’s speeches, her interviews with major media outlets and other authoritative sources and did not find expressions from the quote that went viral on social networks. Actually, this quote practically never appears outside of social networks - it was published on Facebook with the attribution of Gillard back in 2011 And 2012 years. However, if you dig deeper, it turns out that 2010 year it was attributed to the then Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and in 2007 - to his predecessor John Howard.
At the same time, there were high-ranking officials in Australia whose statements generally corresponded to the main idea of the viral speech. So, in August 2005, a month and a half after terrorist attacks in London, which were staged by Islamists, Australian Treasurer Peter Costello stated: “According to our Constitution, we have a secular state. Our laws are made by the Australian Parliament. If these are not your values, if you want a country with Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you. This is not a country where you would feel comfortable opposing democracy, parliamentary law and independent courts, so I would say to those who do not like these values that there may be other countries where they would be more comfortable holding to their own values and beliefs.”
On the same days, Australian Education Minister Brendan Nelson expressed pretty much the same idea: “If you want to become an Australian and raise your children in Australia, we expect those children to learn and embrace Australian values and beliefs... We want them to understand our history and culture, how much we believe in comradeship and giving the other person an equal opportunity, and basically, if people are not willing to support, accept, adopt and pass on Australian values to their children, then they should get out.”
However, not all theses and speech patterns used in the viral text can be found in the words of these politicians. Its original source is article 2001, authored not by an Australian at all, but by US Air Force veteran and future member of the House of Representatives from Georgia Barry Loudermilk, which first appeared in one of the local newspapers and then in VietNow magazine. It was written under the impression of the September 11 terrorist attacks and, of course, is dedicated to purely American realities. Some of Loudermilk's quotes were included in the viral text almost unchanged (“We speak English, not Spanish, not Arabic, not Chinese, not Japanese, not Russian or anything else. So if you want to become part of our society, learn our language!”), others were edited to make it more relevant (for example, in one version, the events of September 11 were replaced by 2002 terrorist attacks in Bali, but this fragment is missing in the now popular version on the RuNet). The version adapted for Australia even made it into performance, sent to the local Senate.
Thus, the viral text has nothing to do with Julia Gillard and goes back to an article by an American veteran about the September 11 attacks and statements by other Australian politicians 20 years ago. Appearing as a result of a compilation, it, in slightly different versions, gained widespread popularity with attribution to several prime ministers. Back in the mid-2000s, he became the source of what appeared in the Russian press fake news about decree about the eviction of Muslims from Australia.
Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons
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