Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, , 9:21:29 to 9:33:51
Special Envoy Aftab Malik delivers an opening statement addressing the experiences of Muslim Australians, the complexities of radicalization, and the physical threats posed by Islamophobia in the community.
Topics: Social cohesion, National security, Human rights
Speakers: Aftab Malik, Unknown Speaker, Senator Jana Stewart, Senator David Shoebridge, Stephanie Foster
Uh we will now move to the special envoy to combat Islamophobia. Uh AFTAB, have you got an opening statement?
Uh this is a Mr.
Malik, sorry. I'm I'm reading your first name on the screen. Mr. Malik.
Sorry, Mr. Malik. Also, the sound is very bad.
Just say a couple of words again.
It's very muffled.
No, it's still no good on our end. I think broadcasting is trying to work on some of the sound. Uh it's still sounding a bit muffled. I'm wondering if we could just get the sound turned up, see if that helps on our end. It's entirely unhelpful right now that we've also got the division bells ringing in the in the room.
Uh Senator, if it can't be fixed, I could possibly um get FTAP on the phone and hold it to the speaker.
Very yeah. We've often we've all done that work around at different points.
Yeah, or might be worth kind of logging out and logging back in potentially. Yeah, yeah, when all else fails, you know. Thank you, Mr. Malik.
The Doctor Who's solution.
We might just suspend briefly while we sort out the tech issues. uh and I will now call uh the special envoy to combat Islamophobia. Mr. Malik, would you like to make an opening statement?
I do, and I will thank you very much. Uh thank you, Chair. Since this committee last met in May, Muslim Australian kept confronting the same question. Can they take part fully in Australia and like as they say and keep their children too? Without being held collectively responsible for acts that have nothing to do with. There have been real progress in addressing it. On the eighteenth of July, the government responded to my national response to Islamophobia with commitments across education, community safety, social cohesion, and accountability. In September, my office also launched the National Islamophobia Index. But announcements on our outcomes. The test is whether the live or Muslim Australians measurably improves. In the past two months, you've got over to you done nationally and brought two words to the fall terrorism and extremism. Terrorism and violence are unacceptable, including when committed by Muslims. These acts must be condemned unequivocally and without excuse. That condemnation also applies to words. In a sermon given in July, a report last month, a Melbourne creature told its congregation not to take Jews and Christians as friends, and spoke of an obligation to take arms against enemies. He has since explained that it did not advocate for harm to befall anyone. There is no place in Australia when citing hatred or throwing social disharmony from the pulpit in any phase. In September, the co-pilot of light by flight 1073 allegedly attacked with Captain Midflight. United Arab Emirates Authority alleged that in addition to reading extremist literature and following extremist online content, who was radicalized or he was studying in Melbourne and was acquainted with people linked to another mosque almost a decade ago. Events abroad now land at home. If anyone in Australia played a part, they must be held to account. When we talk of radicalization, you must do so responsibly. It means recognizing that radicalization has multiple pathways and not treating religion as its only cause. It means not stoking fear or creating a moral panic over how Muslims may choose to dress, where they worship or partake in communal activities. It means seeing ordinary Muslims as Australians and not as suspects. Lords must target offenders, not isolate or interrogate all Muslims. Political leaders must not generalize about Australian Muslims. Media coverage must not scapegoat Muslims or Islam. When these lines are crossed, the result is suspicion, marginalization, disenfranchisement, and most dangerously, a license to abuse people because they are Muslim. Children bear the heaviest cost. Consider the experience of Jannah, a year eight student, who only last month was subjected to a frightening and hateful Islamophobic assault while on a bus in Sydney defending another student. Jannah was called a terrorist and immigrant dog by a 50-year-old man. This by no means is an isolated event. It's facing harassment and intimidation from your neighbor. It's being physically attacked, threatened with rape and being spat at. It's pregnant Muslim women being called ISIS bombers. It's being abused on public transport, having your hijab forcefully pulled off. And when cemeteries are desecrated, worshippers threatened, and violent, hateful messages are sent to mosques and school. Islamophobia can strike when you're driving your car or parking it, when you are shopping or taking a stroll on the beach or at the park. These all highlight that Islamophobia isn't just an abstract political debate. It is a real physical threat, targeting ordinary Australians for who they are and not what they have done. And Derek Inner and Linda Priscan have recently shown children internalize this or rather than developing a sense of identity, some are learning to conceal who they are and feel shame instead. So to close, we must hold two responsibilities at once and recognize one fact. Condemned violence and hatred without hesitation and protect innocent people from discrimination and intimidation, while acknowledging speaking about this wrongly fuels anti-Muslim prejudice, hatred and discrimination. Thank you.