No Ramadan invitations this year to dine with PM at Kirribilli
Aly and wife Susan Carland were guests of Malcolm Turnbull last year. Photo: AAP
Australia’s Muslim leaders won’t be invited back to the prime minister’s official Sydney residence this year to mark the end of Ramadan.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull won’t be hosting another end-of-Ramadan dinner with Australia’s Islamic leaders.
Mr Turnbull last year became the first prime minister to host an iftar dinner at Kirribilli House in Sydney, which involved about 70 Muslim leaders from around the country and cost taxpayers just under $34,000.
The 2016 dinner was marred by the attendance of controversial preacher Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, who achieved notoriety for saying AIDS was a “divine punishment” for homosexuals, and that adulterers should be stoned to death.
It is understood the prime minister did not intend for the event to be held annually.
-AAP