{"id":447198,"date":"2026-01-30T11:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T11:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/447198\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T11:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T11:06:14","slug":"protection-racket-scott-morrison-praised-for-urgent-warning-on-radical-islam-as-imams-accused-of-shielding-extremism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/447198\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Protection racket&#8217;: Scott Morrison praised for urgent warning on radical Islam as imams accused of shielding extremism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former prime minister Scott Morrison\u2019s stark warning about radical Islam in Australia has been praised for being \u201cabsolutely right\u201d, while the imams who rubbished his warning are accused of creating a \u201cprotection racket\u201d for extremism.<\/p>\n<p>A former Liberal senator told Sky News Rowan Dean on Friday the opposition should rally behind Mr Morrison\u2019s banner to confront Islamic extremism.<\/p>\n<p>It came after Mr Morrison sent a strong message to the Albanese government and Muslim imams alike to be more vigilant about Islamic extremism festering in Australian communities.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skynews.com.au\/stream\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-tgev=\"event119\" data-tgev-container=\"bodylink\" data-tgev-order=\"stream\" data-tgev-label=\"stream\" data-tgev-metric=\"ev\">The World According To Rowan Dean is available to watch for SkyNews.com.au Subscribers.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven the specific involvement of radicalised extremist Islam in the Bondi terrorist attacks, Australia&#8217;s response must pay explicit and specific attention to this issue,\u201d Mr Morrison said at a major antisemitism conference in Israel on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am advocating reforms I believe will help religious leaders in our Islamic community keep the wolves from their flock.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To treat such issues as taboo serves only those who wish to keep these influences opaque and in the dark, where our two homegrown extreme Islamist terrorists were radicalised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Former Liberal senator Hollie Hughes said Mr Morrison was \u201cabsolutely right\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat Scott Morrison said is what should be being said by the opposition constantly,\u201d Ms Hughes said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSussan has pointed out radical Islam and spoken about it. I haven&#8217;t heard too many of her colleagues &#8211; and I know Andrew Bragg made a comment about it &#8211; backing Scott Morrison&#8217;s speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think what Scott said was absolutely right. And how anyone can object to it, is beyond me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"poster-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9b1790694350b1e102c0de226c0664ff.jpeg\" data-sctrack=\"op-poster-img\" alt=\"Lebanese Muslim Association launch \u2018blistering attack\u2019 on Scott Morrison\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Ms Hughes said no one was demonising Islam \u201cin its entirety\u201d, there should be an open focus on extremism and radical elements which were allegedly responsible for the Bondi massacre.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow can you find a fence after what happened at Bondi, after the consistent antisemitic attacks that we have seen since October 7 in this country?\u201d Ms Hughes said.<\/p>\n<p>She added there was potentially a \u201cprotection racket\u201d being run by the <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skynews.com.au\/australia-news\/politics\/australias-peak-imams-body-demands-end-to-terms-like-radical-islam-extremist-islam-after-scott-morrisons-reform-call\/news-story\/90c705af83c4c2775b88ca5c123eea0f\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-tgev=\"event119\" data-tgev-container=\"bodylink\" data-tgev-order=\"90c705af83c4c2775b88ca5c123eea0f\" data-tgev-label=\"australia-news\" data-tgev-metric=\"ev\">imams who have since come out against Mr Morrison<\/a>, calling for an end to terms such as \u201cradical Islam&#8221; and &#8220;extremist Islam\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt just shows there&#8217;s, in my view, potentially a protection racket being run by the imams,\u201d Ms Hughes said.<\/p>\n<p>In a\u00a0<a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/anic.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ANIC-Statement-on-Responsible-Leadership-Social-Cohesion-and-Rejecting-Collective-Blame-1.pdf\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>\u00a0released on Wednesday, the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) accused Mr Morrison and Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg of being \u201creckless\u201d for calling on Muslim leaders to \u201ctake responsibility\u201d for Islamic extremism in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAssociating terrorism with Islam is wrong, rejected, and has no factual or moral basis. We cannot and must not blame entire communities for the actions of a few criminal individuals,\u201d ANIC said.<\/p>\n<p>ANIC said the recent comments by Mr Morrison, calling on Muslim leaders to undertake \u201cwholesale reform\u201d and to take \u201caccountability and responsibility\u201d to address \u201cpolitical Islam\u201d, were \u201creckless, irresponsible, and deeply ill-informed\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Hughes said it was \u201cbeyond me\u201d that Mr Morrison\u2019s speech was being criticised by certain imams as well as the Albanese government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir reaction to Scott&#8217;s speech, that there shouldn&#8217;t be a register of preachers, that they shouldn&#8217;t preaching in English, that they should be in order to the curriculum to make sure that antisemitism isn&#8217;t being taught in schools.\u00a0I mean, this is just fundamental stuff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just beyond me that this is coming under so much criticism from the government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"poster-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fcb1be690eab82eb6124e484be5ad7aa.jpeg\" data-sctrack=\"op-poster-img\" alt=\"Future of the Coalition in question ahead of return to parliament\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Mr Morrison\u2019s speech was also rebuked by Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly, who is Muslim and a counterterrorism expert.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s incredibly irresponsible, and I also think it\u2019s incredibly disappointing, because it draws on historical stereotypes and a historical trope that continually puts the blame and responsibility and the burden on Muslim communities whenever there is any form of a terrorist attack,\u201d Ms Aly told the ABC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Muslim community leadership was among the first to go out, come out and condemn the acts of the terrorists in Bondi last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were among the first to wrap their arms around the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms Aly said Mr Morrison\u2019s speech sought to \u201csow seeds of discourse\u201d, calling his remarks \u201cabsolutely abhorrent\u201d which should be \u201crejected\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Albanese government passed new legislation &#8211; which was backed by the Liberal Party &#8211; to take action against hate preachers, however the laws have received significant criticism for limiting free speech.<\/p>\n<p>The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act makes it a civil offence to \u201coffend, insult, humiliate, or intimidate\u201d a person on the basis of their race, which former speaker of the house Bronwyn Bishop argued was meant to \u201cstifle debate about radical Islam\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was what it was meant to do. That&#8217;s what you&#8217;ve got to understand,\u201d Ms Bishop told Dean.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you read what is written by part of the Islamic community, they want the definition of terrorism changed. They don&#8217;t want it to be motivated by religious or ideology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey want it be politically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms Bishop said the legislation was not hate speech laws, but \u201cblasphemy laws\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got rid of those centuries ago. It&#8217;s just got to stop, and that&#8217;s why that legislation was so bad,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce it gets before the courts, how do we know which way it&#8217;s going to go? So yes, everybody is potentially under threat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former prime minister Scott Morrison\u2019s stark warning about radical Islam in Australia has been praised for being \u201cabsolutely&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8932,64,63,29180,41476,18075,74115,44,47714],"class_list":["post-447198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-albanese","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-hate-speech","tag-islam","tag-morrison","tag-muslim","tag-news","tag-sky-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447198","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=447198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}