{"id":443689,"date":"2026-01-28T20:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443689\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T20:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:51:11","slug":"scott-morrison-accused-of-deeply-ill-informed-attack-on-religious-freedom-after-islam-speech-australian-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443689\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Morrison accused of \u2018deeply ill-informed\u2019 attack on religious freedom after Islam speech | Australian politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leading Islamic groups have condemned Scott Morrison<\/a> as \u201cdeeply ill-informed\u201d and \u201cdangerous\u201d after the former prime minister demanded a national register and accreditation for imams, and expanding foreign interference frameworks to capture foreign links in religious institutions.<\/p>\n

The former Liberal leader, speaking at an antisemitism conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday, claimed the measures were needed after the Islamic State-inspired Bondi terror shooting at a Hanukah event, which left 15 people dead. Morrison demanded a focus on \u201cradicalised extremist Islam\u201d, noting the two alleged Bondi shooters \u201cwere Australian-made\u201d and demanding local Muslim bodies do more to stamp out hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is time for nationally consistent, self-regulated standards: recognised accreditation for imams, a national register for public-facing religious roles, clear training and conduct requirements, and enforceable disciplinary authority,\u201d Morrison wrote in The Australian newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafeguarding, financial accountability and scrutiny of overseas funding must also be strengthened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

But the nation\u2019s peak Muslim body, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC), labelled Morrison\u2019s remarks \u201creckless, deeply offensive and profoundly dangerous\u201d, branding his calls for Islamic preachers to be accredited a \u201cfundamental attack on religious freedom and equality before the law\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cRhetoric like this inevitably creates a divide between so\u2011called \u2018acceptable\u2019 and \u2018unacceptable\u2019 Muslims, with politicians positioning themselves as arbiters of our faith,\u201d the AFIC president, Dr Rateb Jneid, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not leadership. It is dangerous, and history shows us exactly where it leads.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AFIC said it rejected the notion that Islam required \u201cspecial regulation, surveillance, or state\u2011imposed oversight\u201d.<\/p>\n

Aftab Malik, the federal envoy on Islamophobia, said those promoting violence did not represent Islam, and that extremism must be confronted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, it must never be used as a pretext to curtail freedoms, police faith, or cast suspicion over an entire community. Doing so provides a social licence to hate,\u201d he told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cConflating criminality with the lived faith of Australian Muslims undermines trust and weakens genuine efforts to keep all Australians safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giridharan Sivaraman, Australia\u2019s race discrimination commissioner, said he agreed with Morrison\u2019s assertion that freedom of religion came with responsibility \u2013 but warned against singling out particular communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you single out one community or religion, you run the risk of that whole community being racially vilified or blamed for the actions a few,\u201d he told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven more so, you run the risk of pitting communities against each other. If you\u2019re highlighting only one community, you create this hierarchy of whose identity is acceptable and whose is not.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you accept religion is practised in many ways in Australia, singling out one faith for proscribing is isolating that faith, and causes people of that faith to feel victimised, humiliated, distanced and not Australian. That can actually feed into extremism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, speaking on ABC radio, described Morrison\u2019s idea as \u201creally problematic and troubling\u201d, praising the Muslim community as \u201cincredibly valued Australians\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the earliest people condemning the vile attacks in Bondi were leaders of our Muslim Australian community, and we\u2019ll continue to support their right to practise in peace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Morrison \u2013 who has spoken often of his Pentecostal faith<\/a> \u2013 claimed Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain had taken authority over religious teaching, licensing of imams, and revising curriculums, and that such reforms would help the Muslim community \u201ckeep the wolves from their flock\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to be an Anglican minister, you\u2019ve got to have the right accreditation, do the interviews, have training in all the things you have to have training in, to make sure you\u2019re compliant with Australian laws. If you don\u2019t do that, you don\u2019t get a ticket,\u201d Morrison told 2GB.<\/p>\n

But the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), which represents more than 300 Muslim leaders and clerics nationwide, slammed Morrison\u2019s claims as \u201cdeeply ill-informed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bilal Rauf, special adviser at the ANIC, said Morrison\u2019s call for Islamic teachings to be translated to English reflected a \u201cfundamental ignorance\u201d, noting there were already translations which are \u201creadily utilised\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaw enforcement authorities have been unequivocal that these attacks were not directed, organised, or endorsed by any religious community. It is profoundly disappointing to hear such divisive language from a former prime minister who understands, better than most, the importance of unity, social cohesion, and responsible leadership,\u201d the ANIC said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The ANIC noted that when Australian man Brenton Tarrant killed 51 worshippers at a Christchurch mosque in 2019 \u2013 during Morrison\u2019s time as prime minister \u2013 \u201cno collective blame was placed on a race, religion, or community, nor should it have been. That same standard must apply consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ANIC also condemned comments from current Liberal senator and shadow minister Andrew Bragg, who endorsed Morrison\u2019s comments on ABC radio and called on Muslims to \u201ctake some responsibility\u201d for acts of terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis rhetoric, coming from senior opposition figures, reflects a failure of leadership at a time when calm and responsibility are required,\u201d the ANIC said.<\/p>\n

Bragg, asked about Morrison\u2019s claims, told the ABC: \u201cI think the Australian Muslim community has to take some responsibility for the behaviours we\u2019ve seen exhibited over the last couple of decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe west has probably been too nice for its own good, and a lot of western countries probably feel that they can\u2019t be honest and open about some of the issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morrison said he was not proposing the government \u201crun religion\u201d and denied his idea was about policing faith, instead claiming it was about \u201cresponsibility and accountability\u201d.<\/p>\n

Morrison was criticised over the secrecy and lack of accountability in his decision to covertly appoint himself to multiple ministry portfolios<\/a> during the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n

Gamel Kheir, secretary at the Lebanese Muslim Association, said Islamic extremism needed to be examined in the context where Australia is also seeing a rise in neo-nazism.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo somehow say that the Muslim community is responsible for the ills of the world is living in a cocoon and putting your head in the sand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Morrison has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leading Islamic groups have condemned Scott Morrison as \u201cdeeply ill-informed\u201d and \u201cdangerous\u201d after the former prime minister demanded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-443689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}