Rankin hopeful says: 'I don't oppose Islam as a country but I do feel their laws should not be welcome here in Australia'

Stephanie Banister may not have the high profile of Sarah Palin, but the One Nation candidate is giving the former US vice-presidential candidate a run for her money when it comes to confused campaign statements.

“I don’t oppose Islam as a country but I do feel their laws should not be welcome here in Australia,” Banister said as she hit the election trail in Queensland.

The 27-year-old candidate kicked off her campaign for the seat of Rankin with a Channel 7 interview in which she confused the Qur'an and halal food with “haram”, an Islamic term for something forbidden by God.

Banister admitted not knowing the names of the candidates she was running against and was talking about her anti-immigration platform when she made her comments about not opposing Islam “as a country”.

Banister is due to face court on a charge of “contaminating or interfering with goods” over allegations she stuck a sticker which read “Beware! Halal food funds terrorism” on Nestle products at her local Woolworths. If she appears before the 7 September election and a criminal conviction were to be recorded, the Australian Electoral Commission would disqualify her from the race for Rankin.

In the campaign interview she also gave her thoughts on the federal economic policy. ''I'd like to see the government drop its five-star budget down to an economy budget,” she said. “With the way the economy's going at the moment, I don't see why the government feels that it should remain at a five-star budget when economy's just as good.”

When questioned further about her views on Islam she replied: “Less than 2% of Australians follow haram” – which the interviewer took to mean the Qur'an.

“Jews aren’t under haram. They have their own religion which follows Jesus Christ,” Banister said. She also referred to haram food when she might have meant halal food.

“Everyone in the world has a lot to learn about day-to-day stuff and everything in life is just about learning,” she said.

Rankin is held by Labor with a margin of 5.4%, although MP Craig Emerson is retiring at the election.

It is being contested for Labor by former treasurer Wayne Swan’s chief of staff, Jim Chalmers, and David Lin for the Liberals.