Mosque leaders say Dutton’s campaign stop-in ‘not an endorsement’, hours after he visits
Leaders of a mosque visited by Peter Dutton say they have ‘deep concerns’ over his previous comments, in a blow to his attempts to win over southwest Sydney voters.
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Leaders of a southwest Sydney mosque attended by Peter Dutton say they didn’t want his visit treated as “an endorsement of any sort”, adding they held “deep concern” and wanted a public apology over his previous comments on Lebanese Muslims.
The statement was issued by Al-Madinah Masjid’s leaders just hours after Mr Dutton’s Sunday afternoon campaign visit, where he announced $25,000 in funding for the installation of CCTV cameras.
While well-received at the Leppington mosque, the statement afterwards raised issues with previous language used by the Opposition leader, and asked “what would you do if these same incidents happened to our Jewish brothers and sisters?”.
“Please do not see this visit here as an endorsement of any sort, rather, we seek to share with you the views and challenges that many Australian Muslims are facing today, so that may help you formulate policies and provide support that is of significant importance to all Australians,” they said.
The letter detailed anti-Muslim incidents in western Sydney, before posing what action Mr Dutton would take if they had happened to Jewish people.
“Of deep concern are your comments that Lebanese Muslims migrating to Australia was a mistake,” the mosque’s letter said.
“Whilst we who are here today are mainly Australian Pakistanis, we strongly condemn these comments about our Australian Lebanese brothers and sisters, and would do the same if any migrant group from any other religion were the subject to similar comments. Whilst we understand you have apologised, we understand this was not a public apology and we ask that this be rectified.”
In a statement issued after announcing the funding at the mosque, Mr Dutton said: “Every Australian – regardless of their cultural or religious background – deserves to feel safe. Our plan will help deter crime and foster safer and stronger communities for the future”.
In their letter, the mosque’s leaders highlighted Islamophobic incidents in the region.
“Not far from here, our Brothers and Sisters were threatened online with someone proposing to conduct a Christchurch 2.0 at the Australian Islamic House,” they said.
The letter also stated local Liberal member for NSW Tina Ayyad and Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun, who are married, had also been subjected to attacks due to their Muslim faith.
Mr Dutton in 2016 said: “The advice I have is that out of the last 33 people who have been charged with terrorist-related offences in this country, 22 of those people are from second and third generation Lebanese-Muslim background”.
He clarified last year he had apologised privately for the comments to a senior figure in the Muslim community.
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