NSW Premier Chris Minns has announced $1 million in taxpayer funds for an Islamic group to set up a Report Islamophobia Support Line in order to stop “anti-Muslim hate”.
The Labor government grant will go to the Action Against Islamophobia initiative, which is run by the Australian National Imams Council, the Premier’s office said on Friday, and declared that Muslim immigrants have contributed “immensely to the social fabric and growth of our state”.
The funds will also be used to support people allegedly impacted by so-called islamophobia, “advocacy and building awareness of how to report incidents”, community education, and training on how to respond to incidents for police and other front-line services.
Mr Minns, who has repeatedly claimed that multiculturalism is incompatible with freedom of speech in recent months before bringing in controversial new “hate speech” laws, said the program would spread awareness about “rejecting racism in all its forms”.
“Naked racism and islamophobia have no place in our state or our country and it is abhorrent that people perpetuate this sort of behaviour,” he said.
“Anecdotal evidence presented to me indicates that Islamophobia is far higher than what is reported, we don’t want Australians suffering in silence or enduring racism without help or support.
“We are proud to be partnering with the Australian National Imams Council to support those dealing with the trauma that Islamophobia causes.”
But many NSW residents criticised Mr Minns for the move, with popular conservative commentator Kobie Thatcher writing on X: “I don’t know what he classes as Islamophobia, but I think it’s probably the Australian people saying, ‘We see what’s happening in the UK and we don’t want that here’.”
“So the new hotline only covers Muslims who feel targeted, but not Christians, Hindus, atheists or anyone else facing religious intimidation? If protection matters, every Australian deserves equal access, not one sided support,” wrote another person.
The funding comes just days after the Lebanese Muslim Association blamed anti-Muslim racism for a flood of objections to a proposal to blast a prayer call by loudspeaker from Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s south-west that was rejected earlier this week.
All but one of more than 300 submissions to council opposed the plan, with many citing noise and impacts on public amenity and property prices, but the mosque owners said they were “purely based in islamophobia” and intend to file an amended application.
Header image: Chris Minns addresses the Australian National Imams Council (Facebook).
