The Hon. MARK BUTTIGIEG (15:40): I seek leave to amend private members' business item No. 1771 for today of which I have given notice by inserting after paragraph (1) (b):

(c)there have been multiple obscene and reprehensible threats made against a number of Sydney mosques during this holy month of Ramadan; and

(d)the threats targeted the Australian Islamic House Masjid in Edmondson Park, the Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb Mosque in Lakemba and the United Muslims of Australia Centre in Padstow.

Leave granted.

The Hon. MARK BUTTIGIEG: Accordingly, I move:

(1)That this House notes that:

(a)15 March 2025 marked the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, which was established by the United Nations in 2022 and coincides with the anniversary of the abhorrent terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019; and

(b)the recent Islamophobia in Australia Report V 2023-2024 by the Islamophobia Register Australia together with Monash University found that Islamophobic incidents rose in the year of reporting by over double that of previous years;

(c)there have been multiple obscene and reprehensible threats made against a number of Sydney mosques during this holy month of Ramadan; and

(d)the threats targeted the Australian Islamic House Masjid in Edmondson Park, the Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb Mosque in Lakemba and the United Muslims of Australia Centre in Padstow.

(2)That this House condemns the prevalence and increasing levels of Islamophobia in New South Wales.

(3)That this House reaffirms its condemnation of all forms of discrimination and hatred based on religious beliefs.

This year 15 March was the sixth anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, which took place on 15 March 2019. These attacks have had long-lasting effects on the Muslim community internationally, as recognised with the United Nations' establishment of 15 March as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. This year the international day has fallen during the holy month of Ramadan.

Earlier this month, to coincide with the international day, the Islamophobia Register, together with Monash University, released its fifth report on Islamophobia in Australia. In the history of the Islamophobia Register's reporting, this year of reporting, covering from January 2023 to the end of November 2024, had the highest ever number of in-person and online incidents of Islamophobia. They include verbal and physical assaults as well as property destruction. The most common victims of Islamophobic attacks were found to be women and girls. New South Wales had the highest number of in-person incidents across Australia, with New South Wales also having the largest Muslim community in the country. Incidents have had long-term impacts on many of the victims, with testimonies including:

My children were hurt and upset. We are traumatised and worried about being in public places.

Another is:

The incident occurred one week ago. I feel traumatized and extremely anxious. I have had panic attacks and nightmares. I have also been unable to work.

The additional subparagraphs that I added to my motion acknowledge the disturbing number of recent threats to mosques around Sydney, including to the Australian Islamic House Masjid in Edmondson Park, the Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb Mosque in Lakemba and the United Muslims of Australia Centre in Padstow. These acts must be called out strongly for what they are: Islamophobic and hateful. There is no place for prejudice in New South Wales. People have the right to go to their places of worship without fear. I note that the threats are being investigated as a matter of great urgency by the NSW Police Force and that a Western Australian teenager has been arrested in relation to the threats to the Australian Islamic House Masjid in Edmondson Park.

I thank the Islamophobia Register for the important advocacy work it does, noting that it also offers support services to the victims of Islamophobia who contact the register. I note that the Federal Government will soon receive recommendations from the special envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, on how it can be better addressed. I acknowledge the advocacy of the Australian National Imams Council, particularly its president, Imam Shady Alsuleiman, who raised with me the importance of recognising the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. The NSW Faith Affairs Council said it best in its statement acknowledging the International Day to Combat Islamophobia:

In commemorating this day, we call on people of all faiths and none to respect the diversity of beliefs in our state. Each of us has a responsibility to build trust within our multicultural and multifaith communities.

The United Nations defines Islamophobia as:

a fear, prejudice and hatred of Muslims that leads to provocation, hostility and intolerance by means of threatening, harassment, abuse, incitement and intimidation of Muslims and non-Muslims, both in the online and offline world. Motivated by institutional, ideological, political and religious hostility that transcends into structural and cultural racism, it targets the symbols and markers of being a Muslim.

I commend the motion to the House.

Ms CATE FAEHRMANN (15:45): I support the amended motion and indicate that The Greens will support it. In the past 18 months there has been a significant increase in the number of Islamophobic attacks being reported across this country. The motion refers to the report by the Islamophobia Register of Australia, compiled by researchers from Monash and Deakin universities, which found that Islamophobic attacks have more than doubled from January 2023 to November 2024. Released on 13 March, the report consists of data from hundreds of reports made to the Islamophobia Register of Australia, as well as an examination of 18,000 social media posts shared on X. The findings are shocking. Like previous reports, gender was a prominent feature of Islamophobic attacks.

Women accounted for 75 per cent of all incidents. Muslim women and girls were 95 per cent of the victims of reported incidents on public transport; 83 per cent of reported incidents on the street, parking or driving; and 100 per cent of spitting incidents. These statistics are confronting, and the stories shared by members of the Muslim community are abhorrent. But the report's authors believe that these statistics are an underestimation of the true extent of Islamophobia in Australia because, of course, of under-reporting. On 4 March Sydney's newest mosque, the Australian Islamic House Masjid Al-Bayt AI-Islami in Edmondson Park, reported an online threat made against it on a social media platform, with a user commenting, "I'm about to christ church 2.0 this joint", referring to the 2019 Christchurch terror attack. In December last year Mr Ehab Elhila was flying a Palestinian flag on his truck, and it was set on fire outside his home.

From actively discouraging vigils in solidarity with Gaza, to rushing hate speech laws after the Dural caravan incident, the political response to the war, much of it at the insistence of powerful Zionist lobby groups, has only served to further fuel division and turn a blind eye to the extent of attacks on people and institutions of the Muslim faith, which are happening every day in this country. The Zionist lobby wants to bring down anyone who dares stand up for the rights of Palestinian people, who dares call what the Israeli Government is doing in Gaza genocide and call Benjamin Netanyahu and his cronies in power war criminals. It is disgraceful. This motion condemning Islamophobia is so important in this climate.

The Hon. AILEEN MacDONALD (15:49): Islamophobia is not just fear or misunderstanding; it is a form of racism. It targets individuals because of their religion or appearance, and it can manifest as abuse on the street, online hatred, discrimination at work or in education, and even violent threats. And it is rising. Saturday 15 March 2025 marked the International Day to Combat Islamophobia—a day that coincides with the anniversary of the tragic Christchurch attacks where 51 Muslims were murdered while at prayer. It is a day not only of remembrance but of resolve, to reaffirm that every person in New South Wales, regardless of their faith, has the right to live free from fear and hatred. Islamophobia—and racism, more broadly—are persistent and destructive forces in our society. As the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Mark Speakman, SC, MP, said in recent correspondence:

We must stand together to stamp out hate.

New South Wales is home to some of the most vibrant and diverse communities anywhere in the world, and that is something we must cherish, not fear. That is why the recent obscene and reprehensible threats made against mosques in Edmondson Park, Lakemba, and Padstow are so deeply disturbing—especially during the holy month of Ramadan, a time of prayer, peace and reflection for Muslims. Using the memory of Christchurch as a threat is not just hateful; it is dangerous, and it must be condemned.

In the face of hate we have also seen great strength—communities rallying together, interfaith leaders standing side by side and everyday Australians speaking up for respect and unity. During the Second World War there is a lesser-known story that speaks to this spirit of solidarity. In Albania, a Muslim-majority country, hundreds of Jewish people fleeing Nazi persecution were protected by Muslim families, at great personal risk. They were sheltered, hidden, fed and kept safe. The reason for that was a deep cultural code called Besa, meaning to keep a promise. These families believed it was their moral and religious duty to protect those in danger, no matter their faith.

That story reminds us that the antidote to hate is not just tolerance but friendship. It is standing up for one another. It is saying, "Your safety, your dignity, your freedom to worship matter to me." That is what we need now. We need to listen to the lived experiences of Muslim Australians, particularly women and young people; educate in our schools, workplaces and communities to break down stereotypes; and lead by standing up against racism and Islamophobia, whether it is subtle or not. I support the motion and stand with our Muslim communities, not just today but every day.

The Hon. ANTHONY D'ADAM (15:52): I contribute to the debate and thank the mover for bringing it forward today. We all recall with horror 15 March 2019 when 51 people were murdered and 89 people were injured in Christchurch. It was a horrific event and one that has left an indelible scar on Muslims across the world. I convey my condolences to all those who lost family and friends in Christchurch and to the Muslim community for their loss. We need to remember that, while the event occurred in New Zealand, the perpetrator was a product of Australia. Something dark is festering in the Australian culture and the media debate around the place of Muslims in this country. I am very disturbed by a statistic from the research of the Scanlon institute into social cohesion that found that one in three Australians express negative attitudes towards Muslims more than any other religious group.

Let us just pause to consider why that might be. I think there is something about the public discourse around the role of Islam in our society that is engendering this type of hatred. Islamophobia is real. Despite the fact that some people want to deny its existence, it is unfortunately part of the lived experience of Australian Muslims. I commend the work of the Islamophobia Register. It does critical work in terms of documenting incidents, even though we know many incidents go unreported. We have seen a 250 per cent increase in online incidents of Islamophobia and a 150 per cent increase in in-person incidents reported in the most recent Islamophobia Register report released just last week. That is very disturbing.

The other thing that is also of great concern is the gender-based nature of many incidents, with 75 per cent of victims being women and girls. Obviously, there is a physical marker in terms of women wearing a hijab that presents a target for those who have malicious intent and clearly, as documented by Islamophobia Register, this is providing a target and I think we should recognise that we need to combat Islamophobia wherever it rears its head in every instance. We all have a duty to make sure that in our comments in public we are very careful not to engender hatred towards Muslims.

Dr AMANDA COHN (15:55): I add my support to the motion that we recognise the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. The anniversary of the terrorist attack committed by an Australian white supremacist in Christchurch, murdering 51 people, is 15 March. The recently released report from the Islamophobia Register Australia and Monash University is an alarming read, and I encourage my colleagues to read it if they have not already. Islamophobia in Australia is on the rise. In particular, it is worth noting the 510 per cent increase in Islamophobic incidents reported since 7 October 2023. The report describes statistics and chilling examples of physical and verbal assault against Muslim Australians and, as my colleague Cate Faehrmann has described, a disproportionate impact on Muslim women and girls.

Mosques are being threatened with violence, racist graffiti is an increasingly common occurrence, and Muslim Australians have lost their jobs or been demonised in the media for holding legitimate political views opposing the actions of Israel in Gaza. About half of the reported incidents in this national report occurred in New South Wales. Our State is home to the largest population of Muslim Australians. This has not been responded to with the urgency it deserves from the New South Wales Government or the Federal Government. We in the New South Wales Parliament are absolutely part of the problem and I have heard disturbing Islamophobia expressed in debate here in the two years since I was elected. Similarly, allowing rhetoric that blames migrants and communities of colour for a housing and cost-of-living crisis, which successive governments have failed to address, allows racism in the community to flourish.

Yesterday the Federal Government handed down its budget. It has a blueprint for how to address racism in this country in the National Anti-Racism Framework from the Australian Human Rights Commission. The framework contains 63 recommendations for a whole-of-society approach to eliminating racism, with proposed reforms across Australia's legal, justice, health, education, media and arts sectors, as well as workplaces and data collection. This budget was an opportunity to show that the Government is serious about addressing this, but there was no mention of it in the Treasurer's budget speech and no additional funding for the implementation of the framework. I know that the Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism takes his role very seriously. This motion is extremely welcome, and it must be the start—not the end—of the action this Government takes to address Islamophobia in New South Wales.

The Hon. MARK LATHAM (15:57): There is a sameness about this debate. We have these debates on a regular basis and I always wonder how successful is a parliament or a government in telling people, "You're naughty" or "Don't do something", whether it is gambling, racism or some other form of social attitude. We do not seem to have a lot of success because the reputation of government is not strong. Our agencies, like Multiculturalism NSW, tend to be part of that. They tend to have some outreach programs that do not actually reach very far or have much of a result.

I think, on the question of relations with people of Islamic faith, it might be wise for the agencies and the Government to try a different approach. People get most of their values and views from lived experience, not the finger wagging of a government or a parliament. On the local scene, there is not a huge amount of contact between people of an Anglo background born in Australia and Islamic people. There is a bit, but it is not a big feature of our society.

Probably the things that shape values the most are perceptions about the Middle East and, of course, what is happening now in Gaza and the controversies around Israel. Whichever side of that debate the average Australian is on, they do not look at it very favourably. A long time ago, my father—may he rest in peace—used to say, "All these problems overseas—why not put them in a big paddock and let them fight it out?" Unfortunately, that is kind of what is happening now in Gaza, and that is still a bit of an Australian attitude.

I would like to see an effort by the Government, through the agencies that do what I think of as do‑gooder programs, to take a different approach—that is, to promote the idea that the Middle East is no longer desert, sand and oil. In fact, there is an argument now to say that, in the Middle East, the dynamic city economies of Doha, Riyadh, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are more advanced than ours. Those city‑states are dynamic, effective and productive economies. It is phenomenal how quickly they have been developed and built. There is an argument to be made to Australian people that we historically have an attitude—and I do not want to express it too crudely—of "We are superior to them. They are out there in the desert. All they live off is oil. That is their only source of revenue." That perception is wrong and we should change it by promoting the idea that those four city‑states in particular are more effective and dynamic than our economy.

We can no longer regard people from the Middle East as somehow inferior to the Australian way of life and our wealth and standards of living. How about we give that a try, rather than finger wagging? Back in the '90s we used to talk about the four Asian tigers of Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. We should be talking about the four Middle Eastern dynamic city‑states that are way ahead of us. Perhaps that is our hope for changing some of these unfortunate perceptions.

The Hon. CAMERON MURPHY (16:01): I, too, speak in support of the motion. To pick up something that the previous speaker said, it is inherently obvious and important that part of the process to stop Islamophobia, which is growing at an alarming rate, is education. That has to be central to this debate. Rather than finger wagging, as it was put, it is about educating people. The first step, though, is recognising that there is a problem, and there is clearly a problem. The Islamophobia in Australia Report V 2023 - 2024 sets out the problem with staggering clarity when it outlines the massive increases in the numbers of reported Islamophobic incidents. There has been a 250 per cent increase in online incidents and a 150 per cent increase in in-person incidents year on year since the first report was published.

The types of Islamophobic incidents reported are mostly incidents against women. The reason for that is pretty obvious: Women are probably the people most easily identifiable as Muslims in public. Someone wearing what is clearly Islamic dress, sitting on a bus or a train, then becomes the target of some pretty awful, vulgar commentary. The report highlights that women are disproportionately targeted, accounting for 75 per cent of the victims, including 79 per cent of verbal abuse cases and 60 per cent of physical assault cases. The incidents also occur for people in the community who are simply expressing their right to protest.

One of the most alarming incidents to me is one where a man was simply flying a Palestinian flag on his property when an unknown individual left an improvised petrol bomb on the windshield of his car. People are being singled out because they are Muslim, or somebody perceives them to be Muslim, and then they are targeted in a way that demonstrates an underlying hate for that person's culture. We have to stamp this out. We need more police investigation, as well as education and awareness. The first step is recognising the significance of the problem, which is only growing, and also making sure that we, as members of Parliament and public officials, do what we can to stop it. We must stamp out Islamophobia in Australia. I commend the motion to the House.

Ms SUE HIGGINSON (16:04): I contribute to debate on the motion and draw attention to a deeply disturbing incident involving off-duty police officers and the failure of the NSW Police Force to appropriately investigate clear allegations of Islamophobia and hate speech. The incident, which now has been reported by The Guardian, involved off-duty police officers gathered at the home of a serving police officer in Glenmore Park. What began as a dispute about pool water flowing into a neighbour's property escalated into what the complainant has described in their own words as "hate crime, harassment and trying to intimidate us". The complainant details that, after asking the officers to stop flooding their property:

They started yelling Allahu Akbar at different times. On one occasion one person said 'Allahu Akbar Boom', then another time many people were yelling together very loudly 'Allahu Akbar' and mentioning Hezbollah.

That was not a random outburst. That was in front of serving New South Wales police officers who were guests at a party. The complainant rightly asks:

Are the police allowed to promote a terrorist organisation when they are off duty? Did Officer S and his police officer mates breach their conduct by yelling?

These are serious questions. Those words were not innocuous. They were a deliberate invocation of racist, Islamophobic tropes. The neighbour and their family were labelled, targeted and threatened based on their religion. The complaint was made, the footage was provided and the police response was dismissive. The investigator's conclusion was "The chanting you heard was not directed at you in any way. It was banter between friends." Since when is invoking racist and Islamophobic tropes in front of your Muslim neighbour considered banter? The complainant is right to say:

If I was the person who said to them what they said to me… we would be arrested and it would be a big headline in the media: a terrorist threat.

But because they are police, it is waved away as harmless. This is Islamophobia and it is deeply embedded. The family asked for the matter to be referred to the police commissioner and the officer responded that it would go instead to her assistant manager because the commissioner is a very busy lady. The commissioner, the Premier and the Minister spend plenty of time in front of cameras telling the public that they do not tolerate hate crimes, but when it happens within the force itself, it is ignored. This family deserves answers, safety and accountability. We cannot turn a blind eye to Islamophobia, especially from those who wear the uniform.

The Hon. STEPHEN LAWRENCE (16:07): I contribute to debate and commend the mover of the motion. It is important. Of late I have heard a bit of commentary in the right-wing media, particularly on Sky News, about whether Islamophobia is real. I certainly think that it is real. I remember going with other councillors to my local mosque after the Christchurch massacre, and it was harrowing indeed to hear the stories we were told. I remember distinctly being told by a number of men that their women had been harassed in shops in Dubbo. Those were people speaking in front of their own community. I have absolutely no doubt that it was true. I was shocked to hear it. This is a real thing.

It is worth thinking about the causes and origins of Islamophobia. Most Muslim people are people of colour, so I think racism bleeds into this. I think also that perceptions about Islamic extremism or fundamentalism have an impact. But the reality is that all religions have their extremists. There are Christian extremists, Hindu extremists and even Buddhist extremists. I remember reading about the civil war in Sri Lanka and about Buddhist extremists in that country. We can go through the text of any religion, particular the ancient ones, and find things that can be lent to an extremist purpose and interpreted in a particular way. That is not unique to Islam.

What is particular to Islam, in a sense, is the incredible social, political and economic changes that have taken place in the Middle East over the past 100 years. I do not know that any part of the world has had the transformation that it has had. That, in a way, has generated a lot of extremism and fundamentalism because people always seek to use religion as part of politics. It is hard to separate the two and, in countries where there are extreme shifts and political contests happening, religions are much more likely to be manipulated and taken to extreme degrees.

I do not think Islamophobia is talked about enough. I do not think the Muslim community in Australia has the political power and clout that other communities have. I do not think it suits certain people's agendas and political narratives and geostrategic interpretations of issues to talk about Islamophobia as much as they do about certain other things. That is why I commend the Hon. Mark Buttigieg for moving this important motion at a really important time.

The Hon. MARK BUTTIGIEG (16:10): In reply: I thank all members who have spoken for their very thoughtful contributions to what has been a good debate: Ms Cate Faehrmann, the Hon. Aileen MacDonald, the Hon. Anthony D'Adam, Dr Amanda Cohn, the Hon. Mark Latham, the Hon. Cameron Murphy, Ms Sue Higginson and the Hon. Stephen Lawrence. What came out of the debate, which was very positive and had good contributions from all members who spoke, is that, if we do not take these things seriously—in this case, Islamophobia on the commemoration of the International Day to Combat Islamophobia—we run the risk of our nation or State giving cultural licence to people who do not necessarily subscribe to the idea of multiculturalism and tolerance that we value so much, and who undermine it and create disharmony in society. Unless we are vigilant, both as a government and as a people, in stamping that out whenever we see it—and that is what this motion is about and what previous motions for other groups have been about—then we run the risk of it happening.

I hope this issue is not used either tangentially or centrally in the lead‑up to the Federal election, in either of the campaigns, because it does have a tendency to be used for political opportunism from time to time. In a lot of ways these things are not new. I remember, when I was growing up, the stigma that so-called wogs would have to put up with at school. Having lived through that, and remembering the humiliation felt when those sorts of things were perpetrated, I can only imagine what people are feeling because of the disgusting and vile incidents that are in the report mentioned during the debate.

The Hon. Mark Latham made a good point about lived experience, racism and looking down our noses at other countries from time to time, thinking that we are superior. That is a big part of it. A lot of it is about understanding that people come from different perspectives too. It is all right for us as Australians to say, "Leave your troubles where they are", but the fact is that people come to this country from a number of different experiences and perspectives, including oppression, famine and war. We have to respect that, know that they bring those experiences to us and empathise with them because we are stronger as a whole when we can put ourselves in other people's shoes. I commend all the contributions to the debate. I am gratified that it looks like the motion will be supported. I commend the motion to the House. Once again, I thank the report authors and Sheikh Shadi for bringing the issue to my attention

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT (The Hon. Rod Roberts): The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Motion agreed to.