Stephanie Banister: Australian political candidate quits after mistaking Islam for a country (VIDEO)

An anti-immigrant politician quit an electoral race after confusing Islam with a country.

Stephanie Banister, 27, was running for a seat in Queensland for the One Nation Party when she made the gaffe on-air.

She had only been in politics 48 hours and had already confused "haram" (forbidden) with "Islam" and said that Jews worshipped Jesus.

''I don't oppose Islam as a country, umm, but I do feel that their laws should not be welcome here in Australia,'' she told Seven News in Australia.

After the interview went viral she decided to quit the race.

"With the way Channel Seven edited my interview, I was left quite the fool," Ms Banister said in a statement.

"I'd like to apologise to One Nation, to my friends and family, for any embarrassment this has brought to them."

One Nation said they still stand behind her and said that Channel 7 had been unfair. It remains unclear if they will run another candidate in her place.

Banister had a rather inauspicious beginning in politics. The mother of two children rose to fame after she was arrested for putting stickers that read "halal food funds terrorism" on Nestle products in a local supermarket.

She still faces charges for tampering with goods and if convicted before polling day she would have been barred from the election.

Many news outlets began to compare her with the US's gaffe-prone 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Australia may have dodged a bullet.