http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23929426-2702,00.html
June 27, 2008
THE small but determined Muslim community in Cairns has finally won the right to build the city's first mosque after an eight-year battle against an at-times hostile community and claims the religion was trying to "spread its tentacles" to north Queensland.
Work is expected to begin on the mosque within weeks after the Planning and Environment Court dismissed the final group of objections, noting freedom of religion was part of the fabric of the Australian community.
"It is in the public interest that persons who choose that faith, just as those who choose any other faith, have access to a safe and reasonably comfortable place of gathering and worship," judge Keith Dodds said.
