The Albanese government said it had accepted and begun to act on 35 of those recommendations, but the prime minister rejected calls from Malik to give religious groups stronger legal protection and review counter-terror laws for discriminatory effects against Muslims.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s response warned Islamophobia was threatening Australia\u2019s national unity as well as threatening the Muslim community, referencing the 2019 shooting<\/a> of 51 Muslim worshippers by an Australian man in New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has found new life in those who seek to blame all Muslims for acts of terrorism that are an offence against their faith,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n \u201cThe inescapable lesson of the atrocity at Christchurch, the mass murder of Muslims by an Australian gunman, is that what begins with hateful ideas can end in unimaginable violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n Malik echoed the warning, when asked in Sydney on Saturday about Hanson\u2019s claims in an April podcast that Islam was \u201cbased on terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThese damaging, dehumanising words, not only do they isolate and marginalise Muslims, it lends itself to threatening behaviour, harm, \u2026 and ultimately, we\u2019ve seen Christchurch,\u201d Malik said.<\/p>\n Albanese did not comment specifically on Hanson\u2019s remarks when invited to by Malik but said the One Nation<\/a> leader \u201chas been undermining social cohesion for 30 years\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cPrejudice is something that isn\u2019t normal, isn\u2019t intrinsic to human endeavour, but something that is taught, and political leaders have a responsibility to promote social cohesion in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Albanese also responded to Hanson\u2019s remarks lamenting the end of the White Australia policy<\/a> of discriminatory immigration, in a podcast with far-right UK activist Tommy Robinson.<\/p>\n \u201cThe movement away from the White Australia Policy wasn\u2019t just the Labor government of Gough Whitlam,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cIt was actually a bipartisan position. That began in the 1960s, and that was a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, condemned the remarks on Saturday. \u201cI never thought when I entered parliament that in my political lifetime anyone who\u2019d been elected to parliament would be calling for White Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought we were in a country where everybody just accepted that we had moved on and we were better because we\u2019d moved on. Part of saying you love Australia is to love Australia for who we are, not some perverted concept of a country where we would turn on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Hanson did not call for the reintroduction of the White Australia policy on the podcast and denied supporting it in a social media video posted on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cNever ever have I advocated that, and I don\u2019t believe in it as well,\u201d Hanson said.<\/p>\n Albanese said Islamophobic incidents had risen and he hoped the government\u2019s response to Malik\u2019s report would support Australia\u2019s social cohesion. He said some of Malik\u2019s recommendations would be adopted while others would be subject to \u201cfurther consideration\u201d.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n After Burke on Monday rejected Malik\u2019s push to reduce the role of religion in Australia\u2019s definition of terrorism, Albanese said his government had taken national security agencies\u2019 advice on terror laws.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s independent advice,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we don\u2019t do is we don\u2019t contract out government. Decisions are made by our cabinet.\u201d<\/p>\n The federal government\u2019s response will include a new federal police social cohesion team to help improve reporting and responses to Islamophobia<\/a>, and new funding for community organisations. Training for MPs, the public service and police, and a new taskforce to help education agencies tackle Islamophobia, will also be introduced.<\/p>\n The government\u2019s response did not endorse Malik\u2019s call for a government inquiry into anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, mentioning Palestinians just once.<\/p>\n The Alliance of Australian Muslims and the Australian National Imams Council welcomed the government\u2019s response as an \u201cunprecedented and important step in the right direction\u201d in a joint statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile this response is welcome, much more remains to be done,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n The peak community organisations applauded Malik\u2019s efforts and said they would work with him to progress the recommendations the government had not responded to.<\/p>\n In announcing the government\u2019s response, the prime minister also took aim at Malcolm Roberts<\/a>, after the One Nation senator for Queensland faced a week of headlines over his endorsement of claims promoted by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2998.jpg\")
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