A frontline community service that tracks hatred towards one group of Australians has revealed a dire detail about its operations.
July 5, 2026 –
Australia’s only national service dedicated to tracking anti-Muslim hatred has been pushed to its brink amid an untenable spike in Islamophobia and a lack of sustainable funding.
Islamophobia Register Australia Executive Director Aishah Ali told NewsWire the organisation had “hundreds of high-risk cases stuck in a backlog” because it simply did not have enough resources to manage the workload any faster.
To fund its victim advocacy work over the last 12 months, the organisation has relied on rollover funding from a commonwealth social cohesion grant provided in 2024-25 in response to a spike in Islamophobia after October 7, 2023.
Women who are visibly Muslim are among the most vulnerable to Islamophobic violence. Picture: Supplied
The remainder of these funds has now dried up as of June 30 this year.
“These are cases of children being physically accosted, visibly Muslim women being attacked, these are serious and violent assaults, many of which are traumatic, high-risk cases but we just can’t get through it all ourselves, as hard as we try,” Ms Ali said.
The team at the Register is made up of three part-time staff at the core of victim support and research operations, as well as a contracted wellbeing co-ordinator who works in youth education.
A state grant administered by Multicultural NSW provides support for youth education programs but does not cover the Register’s core operations or academic research.
“We have put out a recent call out for volunteers as in-kind support is the only viable option at this stage,” Ms Ali said.
The Islamophobia Register is Australia’s only national community service dedicated to tracking anti-Muslim harm. Picture: Supplied
“It is unfairly placing pressure and expectation on a vulnerable community to support itself from harm perpetuated against it.”
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Ms Ali said the Register is inundated with reports across Australia of active threats to community safety which pose “considerable harm physically, mentally and emotionally” to the nation’s Muslim community.
“We believe this warrants a consistent national response and targeted funding to ensure that all communities are equally afforded protection and safety on an ongoing basis,” she said.
In September, Islamophobia Envoy Aftab Malik handed down a landmark report into anti-Muslim hatred which made 59 recommendations.
These included establishing a federal inquiry into Islamophobia, setting up a funding program to safely secure Muslim institutions, as well as a national education program to tackle systemic bias in tertiary institutions.
The government has yet to respond to the report.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office has been contacted for comment.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi compared the funding for anti-Semitism with that for Islamophobia Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
‘Falling short’: Crossbench hits out
The Greens’ Mehreen Faruqi and indepedent Fatima Payman, two of parliament’s few Muslim politicians, were deeply concerned at the Register’s situation and called on Anthony Albanese to take stronger action to support the community.
Senator Faruqi told NewsWire the organisation’s funding struggles sent Australian Muslims the message that “our lives and our safety simply do not matter”.
“The Albanese Labor Government has found more than $600 million for measures to combat anti-Semitism, yet the Islamophobia Register has to be run by overstretched volunteers while anti-Muslim hate grows and festers,” she said.
“Keeping people safe is one of the government’s most basic responsibilities. The Islamophobia Register is doing the work that the government should have been doing all along: protecting communities, documenting hate and taking action to stem it.
Senator Faruqi accused right-wing parties, including a newly bolstered One Nation, of touting “open, shameless Islamophobia” and “fuelling hate”.
“Muslim Australians should not be this country’s punching bag, vilified for political expediency, courted for votes, and then abandoned when they need protection,” she said.
“Is the government waiting for a Christchurch-style massacre to happen in Australia before it takes any action to combat anti-Muslim hate?”
Senator Payman said the government was failing at its responsibilities to help Australian Muslims feel safe, and accused it of allowing Islamophobic sentiment to fester “unabated”.
“Whether it’s not providing sufficient funding for bodies tackling racism and Islamophobia like the register, or not having a clear message on condemning the perpetrators of such violence and hate, the government is falling short in its pursuit of ‘social cohesion’,” she said.
Senator Fatima Payman said her office had been attacked with hateful calls. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
Senator Payman said her own office had been “bombarded” with hateful calls, emails and social media comments in recent months, and the “sheer volume” had taken its toll on her staff.
She argued the government’s inaction continued to “compromise the safety of the workers” in political offices targeted by “Australia’s least adjusted folks”.
Pauline Hanson’s rhetoric around the community shared part of the blame, Senator Payman added, in addition to an “uptick in bot farms” for “disgusting, racist and hateful things on social media”.
In February, the One Nation leader had publicly questioned whether there were any “good” Muslims in a controversial Sky News appearance.
These remarks sparked condemnation from all sides of the political aisle, including a strong rebuke from Anthony Albanese and now-Nationals Leader Matt Canavan, the latter of whom described her comments as “un-Australian”.
Senator Hanson issued a partial, heavily qualified apology before doubling down on “having her say”.
She is also currently challenging a court finding that she engaged in racial discrimination towards Senator Faruqi after telling the Greens politician to “piss off back to Pakistan” on social media.
The comments came after Senator Faruqi criticised the British Empire following the death of Elizabeth II.
Categories: Australia, Islamophobia