18/06/2026
AFIC Condemns Pauline Hanson’s Dangerous Attack on Muslim Australians, Multiculturalism and the Australia We Actually Are
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) strongly condemns Senator Pauline Hanson’s latest attack on Muslim Australians, multiculturalism and the communities that have helped build this country.
Senator Hanson’s comments at the National Press Club were outright dangerous, not merely divisive or provocative. Her call for Australia to become “monocultural”, her declaration that multiculturalism has failed, and her repeated linking of migration, mosques, Muslim communities and “radical Islam”, form part of a long and deeply harmful political project - the targeting of minority communities as threats to the nation.
This is not new for Senator Hanson. For decades she has attempted to build political relevance by identifying different communities, migrants, First Nations and multicultural institutions as dangers to Australia’s identity, economy, security or social cohesion. The latest attack we saw at the National Press Club, is not an isolated lapse in language. It is the continuation of the same politics of fear, resentment and exclusion.
Senator Hanson’s call for a “monocultural” Australia is not a serious vision for national unity. It is the old politics of White Australia dressed in the language of culture.
The claim that Australia can be “multi-racial” but “monocultural” does not make this position moderate. It exposes the racism at the heart of it. It says that people of different racial backgrounds may be physically present, but only conditionally accepted if they surrender the parts of themselves that make them culturally, religiously or politically distinct.
The White Australia policy was never only about skin colour. It was also about language, religion, labour, civilisation, culture and who was considered fit to belong. Senator Hanson’s call for a “monocultural” Australia draws directly from that inheritance. It tells Muslims, migrants and other minorities that they may live here only on the condition that they become invisible.
Australia was never monocultural. Before British colonisation, this continent was home to hundreds of First Nations languages, laws, cultures and spiritual traditions. Modern Australia has then been built by generations of migrants and refugees from every part of the world. Hanson’s “monoculture” is not based in history but in nostalgia for domination.
Muslim Australians are not guests. AFIC President, Dr Rateb Jneid stated “We are not a problem to be managed. We are not a security risk to be explained away. We are citizens, neighbours, workers, students, parents, volunteers, professionals, business owners, community leaders and public servants. We are part of Australia.”
AFIC rejects any politics that demands Muslim Australians repeatedly prove their loyalty while others are allowed to define the nation in their own image.
AFIC also condemns Senator Hanson’s use of the phrase “social cancer” in her National Press Club speech. Her use of the phrase “social cancer” in a passage about hate preachers, Muslim community leaders and radical Islam was reckless, dangerous and dehumanising.
Language that frames communities through metaphors of disease, decay or contamination has a dark history. It encourages the public to see targeted communities not as fellow citizens, but as problems to be removed. No responsible political leader should use such language in a country where Muslim communities are already facing real threats to their safety.
This rhetoric does not exist in a vacuum. It lands in a country where Muslim, First Nations and other minority communities are facing real and escalating threats.
• In Western Australia, a homemade bomb was thrown into a crowd at the Perth Invasion Day rally on 26 January 2026. Authorities are treating this incident as a terrorist act, with police alleging a hateful and racist ideology.
• Also in Western Australia, a 20-year-old man was charged over an alleged racially motivated terrorist plot targeting mosques, WA Police headquarters and Parliament House. Authorities alleged that a manifesto outlining plans for a mass casualty event was found.
• In New South Wales, Lakemba Mosque received multiple threatening letters this year, including death threats and threats of violence against Muslim people and community leaders.
• In Victoria, a suspicious fire caused serious damage to a heritage-listed building in Kilmore that was being converted into a mosque, prompting deep concern from Muslim community organisations about rising anti-Muslim hate.
• In Queensland, Masjid Taqwa in Bald Hills has faced repeated incidents, including Nazi-symbol graffiti and an alleged threat made against worshippers at the mosque.
These are not abstract concerns nor are they the only incidents in the last twelve months. These are real incidents involving mosques, Muslim worshippers, First Nations gatherings and public institutions. In this climate, public figures who demonise Muslims, attack multiculturalism and describe social problems through language of contamination are not merely expressing an opinion. They are feeding an atmosphere in which hate becomes normalised and targeted communities become less safe.”
Dr Jneid further stated, “Words spoken from national platforms shape how Muslim children are treated at school, how Muslim women are abused in public, how mosques are viewed, how migrant communities are spoken about, and how extremists imagine their targets.”
AFIC also condemns the political and media ecosystem that continues to reward this behaviour. Racism and Islamophobia should not be treated as entertainment, electoral strategy or ordinary political debate. Every time anti-Muslim rhetoric is platformed, softened, excused or rebranded as “common sense”, it moves the boundary of acceptable public discourse further towards hate.
AFIC calls on:
• Senator Hanson to withdraw her comments and issue an unqualified apology to Muslim Australians, First Nations communities and multicultural Australia.
• All political parties to rule out any cooperation, preference deals or political legitimisation of movements built on Islamophobia, racism and anti-multiculturalism.
• Media organisations to stop treating racism and Islamophobia as spectacle, provocation or clickbait.
• Federal and state governments to strengthen protection for mosques, Islamic schools, Muslim community organisations and other targeted institutions.
• Governments and law enforcement agencies to treat anti-Muslim hate and far-right violence with the same seriousness applied to every other form of extremism, and
• National leaders to publicly reaffirm that multiculturalism is not a failed experiment. It is part of the foundation of modern Australia.
Australia does not need a monoculture. Australia needs justice, truth, equality and courage. The danger to social cohesion does not come from Muslims practising their faith, migrants speaking their languages, First Nations peoples telling the truth, or communities retaining their cultures. The danger comes from politicians, like Senator Hanson, who divide Australians into those who belong and those who must forever prove they belong.
