In April 2024, a young Muslim boy—a teenager—struggling with mental health challenges, attacked a priest. They labeled him a terrorist within hours, denied him bail. Yet just before this, a similar attack in Bondi by a non-Muslim grown man wasn’t labeled terrorism because they deemed the attacker’s mental health a valid excuse. Where was the justice then?
And just days ago, a woman with a history of Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian hatred allegedly drove her car straight at Imam Wesam Charkawi in an apparent attempt on his life. What did the system do? Did it call her a terrorist? Did it deny her bail? No. They charged her with intimidation and set her free on bail. The same system that locks away Muslim youth for life under terrorism laws gave her a slap on the wrist.
When a synagogue is attacked, they launch a national taskforce overnight to address terror threats. Yet for decades, Australian mosques have been burned to the ground, shot at, and desecrated; Muslims have been stabbed and assaulted in the streets, and not even a whisper of a hate crime, let alone terrorism.
Senior journalist Laura Tingle writes,
it is also worth noting the very different treatment by our politicians of Muslim communities subject to very similar attacks over the past 10 years by our politicians.
A 2021 study of 75 mosques across Australia by Charles Sturt University found that, over half (58.2 per cent) of participating mosques, or worshippers at them, had experienced targeted violence between 2014 and 2019.
The political outrage seemed much more muted, to say the least.
In over two decades, every person (bar one) convicted of terrorist act offences in Australia, including conspiracy, has been Muslim. Australia isn’t alone. Canada, which also imported the UK concept of “religiously motivated terrorism” two decades ago have avoided prosecuting racist nationalists with terrorism laws as one study showed.
Those attacking our mosques say that it is because we are terrorists, but terrorism laws, and how they are used, are what characterise us that way. For over a decade, Scanlon surveys have repeatedly shown that Muslims are the “most disliked” and “least liked” minority in Australia.
Yet, our political leaders continue to overlook these persistent and exceptional findings, silently implying that this is ‘to be expected’. Despite this, they manage to keep their hands clean of any visible blame.
“It would be hard to change now that we have effectively been telling everyone your religion causes terrorism,”
admitted one senior official after I asked him what would block the government from amending the law. This might be true but the real reason in my view is far more sinister.
The terrorism laws in this country are not about justice—they are tools of foreign policy. They serve the interests of the US government and their allies, used to soften criticism and justify the billions poured into war machines, weapons companies, and alliances like AUKUS. They demand public support for genocide abroad and systemic oppression at home.
AUKUS ministerial meeting, August 2024.
The message is clear: Muslims are to be demonised, criminalised, and excluded from the protections offered to others. Vulnerable Muslim youth—children with mental health issues or disabilities—may be thrown into prisons for life under these laws. Meanwhile, offenders from other backgrounds are given leniency, compassion, and a second chance.
This system is not broken. It is functioning exactly as it was designed to—protecting corporate interests, and reinforcing the colonial mindset that some lives matter more than others. It doesn’t just attack Muslims; it attacks the very soul of what it means to live in a just and equal society.
If Australia wants to claim it is a land of fairness and multiculturalism, then the legal system must be stripped of its hypocrisy. Terrorism laws must be reviewed, reformed, and applied equally. The distinction from hate crime needs to be clarified. Vulnerabilities like youth, mental illness and disability need to be uniformly treated – whether terrorism or not.
Anything less is not justice—it is oppression. And as long as this system continues to treat Muslims as second-class citizens, we must call it what it is: a betrayal of the very multicultural values it pretends to uphold.
Well written, well researched piece, makes a very significant argument with substantial evidential backing. I will use it with students.