Home Affairs, Immigration and Arts Minister Tony Burke to face Muslim Votes challenger at next federal election
A high profile Western Sydney community leader says plans to unseat long-serving politician Tony Burke by harnessing ‘angst’ over Labor’s response to the war in Gaza is ‘naive’- as the independent challenger taking the MP on was revealed today.
National
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A high profile Western Sydney community leader says a plan to unseat longserving MP Tony Burke by harnessing “angst” over Labor’s response to the war in Gaza is “politically naive”.
An independent candidate for the electorate of Watson is due to be formally announced on Tuesday and is expected to receive the endorsement of grassroots campaign group the Muslim Vote.
But Lebanese Muslim community leader Dr Jamal Rifi has vowed to help Mr Burke hold his seat, arguing a crossbench federal MP would not have the power to resolve local concerns about the situation in Palestine.
“An independent will not achieve what the community wants,” he said.
“This Muslim Vote movement has never been involved in politics and they are riding the wave of sentiment (around Gaza), but to be honest are taking the Muslims’ votes for granted.
“We are not a community focused only on one issue.”
Dr Rifi said Watson voters would not “betray” Mr Burke, who has represented the electorate for 20 years and won comfortably at the 2022 election with a swing toward him bringing his two party preferred margin to 15.1 per cent.
Dr Rifi has started co-ordinating an informal grassroots effort to garner support for the Home Affairs Minster, with plans for volunteers to doorknock the electorate with “Friends of Burke” T-shirts.
“We are going to call and door knock in the community about the value of sticking up with our friend and not stabbing them in the back,” he said.
“At the same time we’ll be talking to them, trying to educate them politically that the community interest is not through the hands of politically naive candidates who are independent.”
On Monday night fellow local medical professional Dr Ziad Basyouny revealed he would be the independent planning to run against Mr Burke at the next federal election, which is due by May 2025.
Dr Basyouny is expected to detail his political ambitions at Greenacre, where he has previously run a GP clinic.
In July, Dr Basyouny posted on X – formerly known as Twitter – “terrified they should be” in response to a post from a journalist claiming Labor was “terrified of migrant communities organising themselves” in the wake of ex-Labor Senator Fatima Payman quitting the party over her support for Palestine.
Dr Basyouny’s profile was significantly heightened during the Covid-19 pandemic, when, as a member of the Australian Muslim Health Professionals Network, he was involved in videos with NSW Health urging people to get vaccinated.
The Muslim Vote’s campaign website launched in late June, listing the names of federal MPs with large Muslim populations in their electorates alongside their stances on various aspects of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In addition to Mr Burke the group is also expected to target Education Minister Jason Clare in his seat of Blaxland.
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