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A national response to Islamophobia
On 30 September 2024, the Australian Government announced the appointment of Mr Aftab Malik as Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia in Australia. This is an independent submission by the Special Envoy to the Australian Government detailing 54 recommendations.
The recommendations follow hundreds of hours of consultations and listening with Muslim communities and Muslim leaders across Australia and engagement with national and international experts. The report outlines the deep impact of anti-Muslim prejudice on the nation and provides a strategic framework with practical steps to address the problem.
Four principles of the recommendations have been identified.
- Islamophobia engenders social exclusion, which leads to a degraded sense of personal safety, a deterioration in health, impaired performance in education and productivity in the workforce. It also corrodes a sense of belonging, citizenship and trust in government.
- Islamophobia has far-reaching implications for all Australians because it produces an “us” and “them” dynamic, which undermines Australia’s core values such as mutual respect, inclusion, fairness and compassion.
- Fear, hatred and the mistrust of Muslim Australians and Islam encourage people to act on fear instead of fact, and legitimise prejudice and dehumanisation.
- Islamophobia is not a Muslim issue, but a social cohesion issue, and therefore a challenge for all Australians.
It is envisaged that the following federal agencies and other authorities will work together and play a key role in actioning the recommendations:
- Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
- Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights
- Department of Home Affairs
- Attorney-General’s Department
- Department of Education
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Australian Sports Commission
- Department of Social Services
- Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
- Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts
- Parliament of Australia — Parliamentary Joint Committee on Parliamentary Standards.
