Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senators Di Natale and O'Neill, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes with deep concern the findings of the:

  (i) Charles Sturt University's report Islamophobia in Australia 2019, which shows:

     (A) between 2016 and 2017, 349 incidents of anti-Muslim racism reported to the lslamophobia register,

     (B) severe attacks requiring hospitalisation more than doubled from 2% to 5%,

     (C) most incidents of racism towards Muslims involve the targeting of women – 72% of the victims of lslamophobia were women, and almost all were wearing a hijab or scarf at the time of the incident,

     (D) attacks in public areas have become more common, with harassment of Muslims in public areas in the presence of security officers and CCTV jumping by 30%,

     (E) the second most common place for harassment was schools and universities, with incident reports outlining racist slurs from other students, teachers, principals and sports coaches, and

     (F) insults targeting Muslims' religious appearance and religion were the highest at 67% of all reported incidents, and

  (ii) All Together Now 2019 study which analysed 281 media pieces from the most popular newspapers and television shows over a 12-month period, which show:

     (A) racialised identities most often discussed negatively in media included Muslim Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and African Australians,

     (B) Muslim Australians were the most frequently targeted, with 63 of the 281 pieces discussing Muslims specifically,

     (C) Muslim women are most often targeted by negatively racialised social commentary, with perpetrators primarily being mainstream newspapers, and

     (D) social commentators expressed racist views in both overt and covert ways, such as dog-whistling, decontextualisation and irony;

(b) denounces lslamophobia in all its forms;

(c) condemns lslamophobia in public debate and in the media; and

(d) calls on the Federal Government to show leadership at the national level to stop the spread of lslamophobia.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government opposes Islamophobia in all its forms and over the past six months has taken concrete action to address it. Notably, the Criminal Code Amendment (Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material) Act 2019 introduced world-leading protections intended to address the weaponisation of social media as a tool for hate, and our religious discrimination bill will make discrimination against Muslims based on their religious belief unlawful for the first time in both New South Wales and South Australia. There is more to be done but not just at the federal level. All governments should be acting to prevent Islamophobia, and we welcome opportunities to work in partnership across jurisdictions.

Question agreed to.