Prepared by: Kais Al‐Momani Nour Dados Marion Maddox Amanda Wise C

ENSURING LONG TERM FUNDING FOR SUCCESSFUL INITIATIVES

A number of interviewees raised the question of long term funding, particularly for initiatives run by smaller community organisations that aimed to bridge the gap between Muslim‐specific programs and mainstream programs, many of them aimed at a cross‐section of people from marginalised and disadvantaged communities. Some of these initiatives, like those run by the Victorian Arab Social Service and Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre, addressed a skill shortage for those from disadvantaged backgrounds to enable them to participate in mainstream initiatives. Such programs often received only intermittent funding. Funding cuts often meant that successful programs were run for only a short period.

RESTORING CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENT AND THE MEDIA

Politically active Muslims expressed the view that many in the community had lost confidence in government and, even more, in the media, especially its claim to fair representation. Focus groups with older Muslims demonstrated that negative views about Muslims in the media have severely affected their sense of belonging in Australia. One male focus group participant said that despite the presumed equality of the Australian system, negative perceptions of Muslims in the media had disheartened many:

There are a lot of lies in the media ... There are half a million Arabs in this country and they need to stand up to the media. Islam is a religion of love, peace, brotherhood and security. People

think it means crime. They have a negative image of Islam. We are peaceful. We help the old and disabled. There is no accurate information about Muslims. This is made worse by some Muslims, who think the measure of Islam is in the length of their beards. We all live under one roof: the Australian political system.
At the same time as expressing their dismay at this negative portrayal of their own communities, participants in this focus group felt it important to stress that a candidate’s religious identification was not significant in their decision to vote for a particular individual. To these participants, adequate Muslim representation did not mean having a certain number of Muslim candidates in office, but feeling their community would be treated fairly no matter who was in office. One explained:
Even if he’s a Muslim, that means nothing. There are many non‐Muslim MPs who understand what is happening to Muslim communities and we can talk to them openly. They understand that most Muslims are peaceful. We need to make our voices heard to those who represent us in our local area, whatever their party. You can have your voice heard in that way. Just because one Muslim was successful it doesn't mean anything. Whether representatives are Muslim or Christian it doesn't matter, we just want them to treat us as equals.
Rather than arguing that more Muslim representatives would mean better representation, participants in this focus group felt that what was necessary was equal and fair representation for all, regardless of a person’s religious affiliation. Negative images in the media and a sense that Muslims were not treated equally had led amongst this group to a loss of confidence in government and in the media. Some respondents also felt that crimes involving Muslims were prosecuted heavily, while crimes against Muslims were treated more leniently.
Fear of repercussions in their home countries added to many older Muslims’ sense that they have very few outlets to make their voices heard:
There is no unity amongst us ourselves because everyone has their own political opinion. People here are afraid to speak against their governments [in their countries of origin] because they fear that what they say will be reported back home.
Rana Dabliz, a settlement services officer with the Australian Arabic Community Welfare Centre in Sydney, explained that older Muslims’ usual avenue of self‐expression or protest was through religious authorities and community elders.
Interviewer: So what about, for example, if a newspaper published an article that they didn’t like. Would they ever think about writing a letter to the editor, or anything like that?
RD: Oh, no, no. They don’t have the courage to do that. No, no. Because they’re not used to it. They only pass it on to their religious leader, and the religious leader acts upon that ... They always refer to their religious leader.
A member of the Muslim Women’s National Network Australia expressed similar frustration about media treatment of Muslims:
We are getting, actually, really positive feedback. The feedback is very positive, but when you listen to radio talkback – they harp on the other side of things.
Another agreed:
You know this as much as I do: that media feeds on sensational reporting, and if it is not something negative, they won’t report it. We send a positive story, they never reported that. We had, once, a celebration of Harmony Day with the Daily Telegraph in their headquarters, and we

talked about it, and I brought with me young people from all communities who are lawyers, social workers, teachers and so on, who grew up as Australian Muslims, and we spoke to them.

... I asked the question, ‘Why do you always go to this or that Imam? Why don’t you ask young people in the community who are professional people who work with Muslim organisations [for] their views as well?’ ‘Oh, we don’t have their names.’ I said, ‘Give them your cards.’ They gave them their cards. They published one positive story after that.
Representatives from the Affinity Intercultural Foundation in Sydney argued that negative media affected

Australian Muslims’ ability to participate fully in public life:

After September 11 – I don’t know how many years after, was it the next year? We did an anti‐ terror summit where the ideal was to condemn terrorism, and [a popular current affairs program] wanted to do a program on it. We should have known better! They just completely distorted the whole thing, and it just looked so negative. ... They twisted it. They kept asking, apparently, the same question over and over, and then ... he sort of smiled as if to say he’s seriously asking the same question over and over. That sort of smirk … And they cut and pasted that part, and I think they showed him smirking with the twin towers in the back, being bombed.
The Affinity representatives had felt unable to respond: ‘What do you do? ... We don’t have a media voice. Who do you go to?’
Consequently, addressing concerns about negative media representations was a significant focus in many of the initiatives to encourage leadership and political participation in Muslim communities. The La Trobe leadership program and the Australian Multicultural Foundation’s Leadership Australia Program both included major components to empower young Muslim leaders dealing with negative media publicity. These programs are dealt with in further detail below and again in the Case Studies chapter. The Islamic Council of Victoria also ran media training sessions. Sherene Hassan, the Islamic Council of Victoria’s media spokesperson, emphasised its importance:
I’ve conducted a couple of workshops on how to get Muslim youth engaged with the media, and there have been several media workshops specifically for the Muslim community and maybe some for the Islamic Council Victoria. I know when I was part of the Muslim Reference Group for the federal government, we were given media training.

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