Hockey gold medallist and former Labor senator Nova Peris shared a series of social media posts scathing of Islam in the lead-up to her election as a director of the sport, including one which said the religion “should be banned in the West”.
Peris was voted onto the board of Hockey Australia last month, nearly three decades after her triumph with the national women’s team, the Hockeyroos, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Nova Peris has become a prominent advocate for Israel and a voice against antisemitism.Credit: Aresna Villanueva
But her position as a director of the government-funded national federation has come under question because of comments she has re-posted online this year.
This masthead reported that the pro-Israel campaigner shared a comment from another user on X in April that called Muslims “Satan worshipping cockroaches that need to be eradicated”.
That account is no longer active, but other Peris re-posts of anti-Islam rhetoric in the three months before her elevation to the Hockey Australia board have remained on her profile on the social media platform.
The 54-year-old, who has 15,000 followers on X, shared a comment by right-wing commentator Kobie Thatcher on April 18 that denounced Muslims praying in public in Parramatta on Good Friday.
“An Islamic prayer service taking place in Prince Alfred Square. This does not belong in this country!” the post said.
Peris re-posted material from another user on April 16 who said, “Islam should be banned in the West”. The comment was made in reaction to a Muslim man in the US who told an interviewer: “this American empire must fall” and “people are willing to fight and put their lives on the line to bring these Western empires down”.
The Indigenous rights activist also shared the views of a Moroccan television host and author who converted to Christianity after being raised as a Muslim.
“Islam is not a spiritual religion; it is a territorial one. Everything is designed to occupy lands and subjugate people … Islam is not about saving you – it is about enslaving you,” he wrote on March 22.
Peris did not reply to questions sent to her by this masthead on Tuesday.
She said on X in June that she was not “anti-Muslims” and had Muslim family and friends, but opposed “extremists who hijack religion to justify violence”.
“I respect all faiths that promote peace,” she said.
Peris in action for Australia against Spain at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.Credit: Jack Atley
She said last week she “absolutely” did not share the views expressed in the post that described Muslims as “Satan worshipping cockroaches that need to be eradicated”, but did not answer why she re-posted the comment.
Labor MP Ed Husic, Australia’s first Muslim parliamentarian and a cabinet member in the first term of the Albanese government, was unimpressed.
Asked about Peris sharing comments from the since-deactivated account, Husic said: “They clearly were Islamophobic posts. How do you distance yourself from your own decision to re-post them? It was an accident?
“Even more bizarre is to claim as a defence the fact that the account is now defunct. How is that OK? The key is, it was active when Nova made an active decision to re-post. Not good enough.”
Hockey Australia, whose annual funding grant from the Australian Sports Commission totalled $9.5 million in 2024-25, is standing by Peris, who was elected to its board by the sport’s state associations.
It said its “various stakeholders have their own personal views which do not always reflect the views of the organisation and the Hockey Australia board” and that the organisation had reinforced its values to Peris as a new director.
Under the heading “multicultural”, its website says: “Hockey Australia is committed to embracing diversity by ensuring our sport is welcoming, safe and inclusive for everyone. Being inclusive is reflecting the diversity of our communities and celebrating this in our game”.
The Australian Sports Commission, which funds hockey and other Olympic sports, has said, “this is a matter for Hockey Australia”.
Peris, who has also brought attention to the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, has become a prominent defender of Israel during its war in Gaza and a voice against antisemitism in Australia.
She gave a speech at a Zionism Victoria event in Melbourne in April and is listed as a speaker at the three-day Australian Mayors Summit against Antisemitism on the Gold Coast in September.
The Albanese government’s antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal is also due to appear at the summit, which is being hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement for local government leaders around the country.
In June, during a visit to Israel with the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, Peris was presented with an award recognising her contribution to fighting antisemitism.
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