Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

These are the words of one of my constituents, Dr Evangelia Axiarlis:

The Australian mainstream media portrays a skewed stereotypical and overly negative image of the Muslim community. The pervasive representation of Muslims as a monolithic, homogeneous entity is both inaccurate and harmful to our social cohesion. Australians of Muslim faith have much to contribute to the broader society and should be welcomed. Constantly referring to and identifying Muslims in terms of their religion is patronising and belittling.

Evangelia lives in Broadmeadows with her husband Ismail and their three young children. She and Ismail teach at our local Ilim College and she recently published a book on political Islam and the secular state in Turkey. Dr Axiarlis grew up in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs. She is the daughter of Greek and Greek Cypriot migrants, a dedicated teacher, who converted to Islam, and by all accounts is a typical Aussie of migrant extraction, just like me and lots of other people in this country, and indeed in this chamber.

She happens to where the hijab and is therefore identifiably Muslim. As a result, she experiences discrimination often and places much of the responsibility for this on the Australian media.

The mainstream media is, in my opinion, mostly to blame for the discrimination and racism innocent Muslims experience regularly. It is sensational, inflammatory, misleading and ultimately dangerous.

I most certainly agree with Evangelia on this issue. The most recent attacks and vilification of the Grand Mufti Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed by The Daily Telegraph and the continuing attacks today by government members, in The Australian, is an example of this reckless apportioning of blame on a community and its leadership.

Evangelia is one of the thousands of Australians of Muslim faith who live in my electorate of Calwell. They are a very diverse group of first and second generation migrant Australians, predominantly but not only from Turkey, and many are devout followers of the Islamic faith. I know them as Milli Gorus. I also know them as followers of Fethullah Gulen's Hizmet movement. Others are Alevi Turks, while others are more secular in their orientation. Within this large and diverse constituency there are many Kurds and, of course, there are large numbers of Muslims who are of Lebanese, Pakistani, Egyptian and Bosnian backgrounds, as well as many who are Alawis from Syria.

Evangelia's reference to Australian Muslims as a diverse and plural set of communities is very much reflected and affirmed in the ethnic diversity of my local Muslim constituency. Of course, I also share her concerns about the stereotyping of Australians of Muslim faith and the pressure they have been put under, largely since September 11, a catastrophic event that marked a turning point not only for my local Muslim communities but indeed for the rest of Australia and the global community. It was a time when some in my local community went from being migrants with a shared migrant experience like everybody else to becoming Muslims, defined and stereotyped as an entity whose faith was to be feared, resented and rejected as incompatible with mainstream values and expectations. Actions that are a result of inflammatory media commentary have had disturbing ramifications, especially for Muslim women who wear the hijab. Second-generation young Australians of Muslim faith also often find themselves on the receiving end of unprovoked and unwarranted abuse, recriminations and anger from some in the community each time an act of terror takes place in the name of Islam by criminals whose actions and beliefs misuse and manipulate interpretations of the teachings of the faith they profess to espouse. It frustrates me as it does my community that for the actions of a fringe group of criminal zealots the great majority of the Muslim community in Australia is systematically stigmatised.

I have previously spoken in this House about Islamophobia and the way in which some in the media and some politicians have contributed to the prejudicial perception of Australians of Muslim faith. It is fair to say that this negative betrayal of Muslims has continued in the aftermath of September 11, and I am afraid that in more recent times it is becoming more prominent and widespread. Since September 11, the world has undergone a period of transition, if not to say transformation. Change has occurred at all levels: locally, nationally, regionally and globally. The rising tension between Islam and the West is perhaps the single most important feature of this transition. Strains in the relationship between Australia's Muslim communities and the wider society are part of this change.

From an Australian Muslim perspective the nation's leaders and politicians more generally have not fully understood nor effectively handled these strains with the necessary vision, skills or sobriety. Rather, overreaction and overreaching has become the norm. The net effect has been the homogenisation, polarisation and politicisation of a community that feels constantly having to justify itself.

Muslim communities strive to be part of a harmonious multicultural society, and they are deeply troubled by the most recent noticeable change in public rhetoric and media commentary towards Muslims and Islam in general. And while I qualify the complexity of the media's influence, at face value its representation of Australia's Islamic, and especially Middle Eastern, communities is contributing to and evoking negative reactions to those communities. In particular, I note a number of prominent media commentators are inclined to allow their judgements about the Muslim communities to be coloured by assumptions about ethnic and racial dispositions and characteristics. Such inclination is often due in part to the commentators' inability or reluctance to view their subject in the appropriate context. In many instances, reporting and interpretation of local events is distorted because of a preoccupation with faraway events. Put differently, interpretations and readings of intercultural and interfaith relations within Australia are often distorted by a fixation on geostrategic manoeuvring and events of the day.

I am deeply concerned that overall our media is in danger of misleading Australia's mainstream community about Muslim attitudes, and I would like to see better informed, more balanced, responsible, less sensationalised coverage of issues and perspectives relating to Islam and Muslims. Rarely are positive stories about the Muslim communities promoted. Instead, we are constantly told by the media that Australians of Muslim faith hate the West and our way of life and do not want to integrate. As a member for an electorate with the second highest Muslim population in Australia, and the highest Muslim population in Victoria, I can say unequivocally that this sentiment does not represent the Muslim community in my electorate. They are ordinary people getting on with the daily business of living, and basically would like to be left alone. I am pleased that what I know to be true is today affirmed by a survey of 600 Muslims in Sydney commissioned by Western Sydney University, the Islamic Sciences and Research Academy of Australia and Charles Sturt University, which found that, amongst other things, according to Professor Kevin Dunn:

Counter to what people might mistakenly believe from media coverage and a lot of debate and commentary, the vast majority of Muslims are very ordinary Australians.

We have worked very hard in this country and in our local communities over the decades, through public policies and interfaith networks, to build a strong and cohesive multicultural society.

I must acknowledge that the political leadership of Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, opposition leader, Bill Shorten, and Greens leader, Senator Richard Di Natale, are all strong proponents of Australian multiculturalism and interfaith dialogue. This multipartisan support is crucial and sets a good example for us all to follow, including the media. The Prime Minister affirmed this in his national security address, where he cited Australia's strong multicultural society as the bedrock for defence against terrorism. Australia is a great example to the rest of the world of how communities can live together while maintaining their culture, language and faith all in the context of being Australian. This is something that we have done well and this is something we need to protect.

Unfortunately, there are some members of the government—spearheaded by, of all people, the member for Kooyong and including the newly minted member for Canning, who must be looking to nail his credentials somewhere—who seem to be out of step with the wise words of the Prime Minister. The member for Kooyong's patronising attack on the Grand Mufti's leadership is exactly the reason why we are not, to use his own words, 'winning the battle of hearts and minds within the Muslim community'. On the contrary, these attitudes from some politicians do exactly what Dr Jamal Rifi said is the work of Hansonites, and I have no doubt that today's contribution from the members for Kooyong and Canning and others will be music to the ears of Rise Up Australia, Reclaim Australia and other racists who will be emboldened and encouraged. It is our responsibility to unite the Australian community not to divide it, and if anyone is showing a failure of leadership in this, it is government members. Australia is considered international best practice for managing cultural diversity and in building a tolerant, inclusive, harmonious and coherent multicultural society. Australians of Muslim faith are a part of our mainstream Australian society and should not be defined by the actions of zealots.