AAI Supports the Special Envoy’s Call for an Urgent National Response to Islamophobia

The Alliance Against Islamophobia strongly supports the call by the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Mr Aftab Malik, for the Australian Government to urgently respond to the National Response to Islamophobia and to treat Islamophobia with the seriousness, resourcing and structural commitment it requires.

Muslim communities across Australia have repeatedly shared their experiences of anti-Muslim hate, dehumanisation, exclusion, intimidation, online vilification and institutional neglect. These harms are not isolated or incidental. They affect public safety, mental health, democratic participation, community wellbeing and social cohesion.

The Federal Budget was an opportunity for the Government to demonstrate that Islamophobia would be confronted with the same urgency, rights, protections and legal recourse afforded to other forms of discrimination and hate. That opportunity has not yet been met.

AAI believes the time for delay has passed. The Government must now provide a clear and substantive response to the Special Envoy’s report, including meaningful investment, institutional architecture, legal protections, community-led prevention work, and sustained support for Muslim communities affected by Islamophobia.

We also emphasise that any national response to Islamophobia must recognise the diverse experiences of Muslim communities in Australia, including the structural invisibility of South Asian Muslim communities and the growing harms caused by transnational anti-Muslim hate, digital dehumanisation, and far-right Hindu extremist rhetoric and networks.

Anti-Muslim hate must not be treated as peripheral to Australia’s social cohesion challenges. Where Muslim communities experience vilification, intimidation, threats against places of worship, communal polarisation or institutional exclusion, those harms must be recognised as matters of public safety, dignity, belonging and democratic participation.

AAI stands with the Special Envoy’s call for urgent action. The Government must respond now — with seriousness, resources, accountability and a clear commitment to the safety, dignity and equal protection of Muslim Australians.

Imam Waseem Razvi
Chair | Alliance Against Islamophobia