These chilling voicemails prove Islamophobia is thriving – despite one senator’s callous dismissal

Warning: this article contains graphic language.

“Kill the Mussies! Hey, baby-killers, you’re not welcome in this country. Get your f–––ing scumbag selves out of this joint and f––– off. You f–––ing pieces of s–––, get the f––– out of this country, you f–––ing scumbag c–––s. You don’t belong here and you’re dead. We are going to f–––ing get you, c–––s.”

This was a series of voicemails left by a man at an Australian Muslim organisation in October last year.

In May, there was 39-fold increase in reports of Islamophobia on Australian university campuses. Credit: Illustration: Matt Davidson

Here’s another voicemail, left by a woman for a different organisation this year: “F–––ing Muslims are the worst people in the f–––ing world. They are garbage, they are absolute human garbage. Stop telling Australians that we want multiculturalism here. We do not. So, f––– off, and send all of you back to where you came from. Ok? You stupid, f–––ing idiots. Ignorant, uneducated idiots.”

Illustrating her casual confidence to say such things, the caller ended the message by leaving her real name and phone number.

Both organisations requested not to be named for fear of the ramifications of going public.

When these messages were shared with me by the organisations, and later circulated more widely on Muslim WhatsApp groups, what was most remarkable to me was how decidedly unremarkable it was. None of us were shocked, or even surprised. We shook our heads, some rolled their eyes, and quickly forgot about it. It was so everyday, so banal.

Last week during an interview with ABC Canberra Breakfast, Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson said: “Frankly, there is no issue with Islamophobia.”

Seemingly caught off guard by the comment, interviewer Adam Shirley sought clarification, asking Henderson: “Sorry, no issue on university campuses, or in society with Islamophobia?”

“No,” the senator insisted. “There is no issue with Islamophobia.”

When asked how she knew that, Henderson continued: “This is one of the problems, Adam, and I think one of the concerns that we’ve had with the government is that they’ve been prosecuting this equivalence between Islamophobia and antisemitism. At the moment, in this country, we have seen the most alarming rise in shocking cases of antisemitism.”

This was an astounding claim, not least because of the recently documented rise in Islamophobia on Australian university campuses, but also because Henderson is the opposition spokeswoman for education.

In May, there was 39-fold increase in reports of Islamophobia on Australian university campuses alone. In November 2023, just one month into the war in Gaza, reports to the Islamophobia Register Australia had risen by 1300 per cent compared with the same period the year before.

One recent report to the Islamophobia register told of a Muslim woman whose hijab was ripped off at a bus stop. In another incident, a Muslim woman was assaulted on the street, with the man yelling, “You f–––ing Muslim”, at her. In yet another, a young man was physically attacked as he defended his mother and younger sibling who were threatened with a bottle and called “You f–––ing Muslims. You f–––ing black Muslim refugees”.

Last week, Senator Sarah Henderson said there was no issue with Islamaphobia in Australia.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

In light of the established facts, Henderson’s comments were astounding. But what was most revealing was the denial of any instance of Islamophobia while condemning antisemitism.

That the senator is concerned about antisemitism in and of itself is not noteworthy. It is entirely correct to be concerned about antisemitism. In Australia, horrifying reports of antisemitism proliferate. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry reported a seven-fold increase in antisemitism in Australia last December. No doubt it has increased since then. “Jews die” was graffitied on a Melbourne Jewish school days ago, the latest instance of attacks on Australian Jews. This should trouble all of us.

Henderson’s comments were revealing because they were so adamantly singular. Like Islamophobia, antisemitism in Australia is a documented, growing reality. So why was the senator denying not just a rise in Islamophobia, but its very existence? Stating that even raising Islamophobia was implying a “false equivalence” with antisemitism is the revelation.

Apparently, there is one true and serious bigotry warranting attention, and a pretend one. And this suggests her engagement with antisemitism is less a genuine and overarching commitment to a cohesive country without bigotries that negatively impact all Australians, and more a callous political posturing.

But beyond being callous, this is dangerous. With social tensions unusually high in Australia right now, a selective commitment towards discrimination not only alienates a group of people who are already facing hatred, it has the potential to embolden and provide cover for bigots who can say Islamophobia does not matter, or worse, say that it does not exist.

Even more divisively, it needlessly pits antisemitism as being in competition with Islamophobia, instead of seeing them as concurrent scourges that are both toxic and requiring urgent attention. We do not need to deny Islamophobia to give antisemitism its due.

And perhaps, this is the most banal part of the experience of Islamophobia in Australia. It’s not its regularity, its violent expression, nor its current escalation – it’s the clear indifference to its existence.

Recently, a Muslim woman told me about experiencing repeated Islamophobic graffiti across her suburb. I urged her to report it.

“What’s the point?” she asked bitterly. “No one cares about Islamophobia.”

Dr Susan Carland is a sociologist of religion at Monash University, where she researches Islamophobia on campus. She is a board member of the Islamophobia Register Australia.

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