Ms BURNET (Clark) – Honourable Speaker, I thank those members who have made reference to Remembrance Day and also to Ms Haddad for the reference to the dismissal. Those are both really important contributions to our enduring freedoms that we remember.
I rise this evening to speak about an important event I attended on Friday evening at Moonah, the launch of the Tasmanian chapter of the Islamophobia Register. The evening was hosted by Eamon Jaffrey who I recognise in the Speakers Reserve and her husband Ali and other members of the Muslim community. There was a wide variety of others who were there to show support, including the acting Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Pia Saturno; CEO of the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania, Gillian Long; and Chair of TasTAFE, Mr Tim Gardner. Over good food from Spice on Wheels and frank discussion, we heard the importance of the register and had a chance to think deeply about not only the impacts on the Muslim community, but what we can do to stamp out racism in Tasmania. I was honoured to meet guest speaker for the evening and Executive Director of the Islamophobia Register, powerhouse Dr Nora Amath, who told us of the register’s impacts and successes in mainland states.
It is a national initiative which was which has been going for about 10 years, launched in 2014 by Afghan-Australian lawyer and writer Mariam Veiszadeh, who was the founding chair. It encourages Muslims to report instances of racism, the idea being that the more of these instances we collate, the better we can be about calling out racism and ensuring Muslim people feel safe in Australia. Registering complaints with the Anti-Discrimination Commission is also important to capture.
Why is this register needed? Since its inception in 2014, the register has reported nearly 1000 incidents of racism in mainland Australia, worked with countless policymakers, community leaders and governments across the political spectrum, and published four research reports that document instances of Islamophobia in Australia.
I have read parts of these reports, especially the recent one published between 2023-2024, and have to say the stories documented are heartbreaking. Everyone should have the right to stay safe and to feel like they belong in this country. On Friday, similar experiences were relayed by local Tasmanian Muslims, where women have had their hijabs removed on buses, or racist remarks or physical attacks have been made on the street. That makes people feel unsafe and it makes people feel very scared. One of the things that disturbed me most when reading the recent report was the idea that racism is on the rise. One-in-three Australians have a negative view of Muslims, a figure up 7 per cent from 2023. As a comparison, this is nearly three times higher than negative views towards Jewish people, that should not be tolerated either. I would like to recognise the work done, particularly to combat anti-Palestinian racism with the devastating war in Gaza and the political and societal tensions manifested in Australia.
Many Australians are in denial about the impact Islamophobia has on Muslim people. In 2024, a poll showed that only 9 per cent of Australians believe Islamophobia was on the rise. We know that in Tasmania there is a greater number of people who are Muslims. That number has doubled since 2016 in the census to nearly 5000 people in 2021. The research reports say, ‘Look, racism is a problem, it is documented, there is evidence’, so that we can recognise patterns and those patterns tell the truth about what is happening and where in Australia, and now, with the opening of this chapter, in Tasmania.
We are in a time in history where tolerance, I fear, is diminishing. We see an erosion of tolerance, acceptance and respect that I know impacts our Muslim brothers and sisters, as with many communities. It is through action, legislation, speaking up and calling out poor behaviour that we can overcome this. Thank you to those who’ve worked hard on the Islamophobia Register.
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