Australia’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia has condemned anti-Islam graffiti that was discovered in western Sydney over the weekend as “appalling” and “unacceptable”.
Speaking to SBS Arabic on Monday, Aftab Malik joined religious and political leaders as police continued their investigation.
“Regarding the message itself, what was sprayed was appalling, and it’s simply unacceptable, and it crosses the line from free speech to hate speech,” Malik said.
“In the multicultural and the multi-faith Australia that we are in, that has no place whatsoever. That message can only do one thing — it can only fuel hate and division.”
NSW Police said it received reports of offensive graffiti in the suburb of Sefton on Sunday morning.
The words ‘F— Islam’ had been spray painted onto both sides of an underpass and the words ‘cancel Islam’ were graffitied on a nearby advertisement. By Sunday afternoon, the graffiti had been painted over.
On Sunday, the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) said it “strongly condemns” the graffiti, describing it as “another Islamophobic and anti-Muslim attack in Australia”.
“The location of the attack is no coincidence. This act of Islamophobia was targeted at a suburb with a high Muslim majority to intimidate and threaten the Muslim population,” ANIC said.
“If they cannot feel safe in their own home, where can they feel safe?”
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the vandalism was “abhorrent”.
“This racism and Islamophobia is disgusting and corrosive to the very fabric of the successful multicultural state that we have built here in NSW,” he said.
Reported incidents of both Islamophobia and antisemitism have been 2023.
Malik, who was appointed as , also condemned recent attacks on Jewish communities, including .
He said he had spoken with his Jewish counterpart, the government’s special envoy to combat antisemitism Jillian Segal, on many occasions about the challenges both groups faced.
“Whatever is taking place, what is at risk is people’s safety,” he said.
“Whoever you are, we all need to work together to ensure that everyone is safe in Australia, so we can all thrive.
“In regard to places of worship, I think it’s really important that we explain that an attack on a synagogue is an attack.”
‘I don’t feel safe’
The recent vandalism follows a bus belonging to an Islamic school being set alight in Adelaide under suspicious circumstances.
South Australia Police are investigating this incident but said as opposed to an opportunistic attack.
The Islamophobia Register Australia has documented Islamophobic incidents across the country since its inception in 2014.
Speaking to SBS News, executive director Dr Nora Amath said it had recorded more incidents in a single year than in the total eight years before.
She said women are often targeted.
“Incidents could be that they’re just going about their everyday business, and where they’re shopping with their children in their pram and getting verbally and physically assaulted while the child is in the pram,” she said.
“We’ve had cases like that in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, as well as Brisbane. So that is probably the very common incident that’s reported to us as well as attempts to remove the headscarf from them.
“We’ve seen a lot of graffiti as well.”
Amath said the rise in Islamophobia is leading to concerns about the safety of her children. She says friends have left the country in recent months.
“Let’s say I don’t feel happy, I don’t feel secure. I feel worried about the kids, and especially my girl.”
Victoria responds to antisemitic attacks
It comes as Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan , following a series of
The Victorian government is planning to introduce legislation that will ban the display of flags and symbols of listed terrorist organisations in public, including Hamas and Lebanese militia group Hezbollah. The ban also applies to white national extremists and radical racist right-wing groups, Allan said on Tuesday.
This follows recent and Melbourne. in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea was torched on 6 December. In two separate incidents in Sydney’s east,
This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Arabic.