A proposal to build a mosque in a suburb 40km south-east of Melbourne’s CBD is likely to be rejected over concerns about the scale of the development and its impact on the environment.

A special meeting of the City of Casey council will be held on Tuesday night to discuss a council report that recommends councillors not approve the application from the Saarban Islamic Trust for a 470-person mosque on the vacant rural site in Narre Warren. The mosque has been the subject of vehement opposition from far-right political groups.

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The report outlines the key factors influencing the recommendation, saying: “The proposed height, bulk and prominence of the proposed development combined with the large expanse of car parking will result in a dominant built form and excessive hard paving and is not considered to be sympathetic to the landscape and scenic qualities of the area.” The mosque includes a 25-metre minaret.

Another reason given was that the plan was not consistent with the requirement for “protection, conservation and enhancement of the character of rural and scenic non-urban landscapes and the amenity of the area”.

The president of the Saarban Islamic Trust, Zain Shaah, told ABC radio on Tuesday that he believed the proposal had been rejected in part due to Islamophobia. Two months ago, the grounds where the mosque was planned to be built were burned. Narre Warren detective Sen Sgt Rodney Maroney told Fairfax Media police were investigating the burning of planning permit documents displayed in the front of the site.

“Why are mosques needed when they supposedly pray on mats,” one member of the Facebook group Stop the Narre Warren Mosque wrote. “Mosques are not required or wanted so move with the times.”

A post by an administrator of the page said the mosque might become “another place where radicalisation could occur and threaten community harmony”.

But the report to the council rejected these concerns. “To refuse the application on social impact grounds would require evidence that the proposed use would have significant adverse social impacts,” the report said. “There is no compelling evidence that the social impacts perceived by some objectors would happen at the subject land.”



Shaah said for the past 18 months the trust had been cooperating with the council to address any concerns about parking, noise and the height of the building. He said the group was “really stunned and surprised” by the rejection, saying they were fighting to have the mosque approved in an “Islamophobia environment”. The trust would have been prepared to remove the minaret and make alterations to the plans had concerns been raised with him, he said.



“We got a really big shock to find out they have rejected our application,” Shaah said.

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One of Casey’s councillors, Rosalie Crestani, is a member of the far-right Rise Up Australia political party and has previously attended rallies held by the far-right anti-Muslim group Reclaim Australia. She strongly opposes the mosque.

“I think that’s a conflict of interest,” Shaah said. “It’s very discriminatory behaviour from the council against us.”

The trust would be taking its application to the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal, Shaah said. The council received 1,003 letters objecting to the development and 16 in support.

Victoria’s planning minister, Richard Wynne, who does not have jurisdiction over the local council matter, described the recommended rejection of the mosque as “an unfortunate turn of events”.



“It is right and proper that people have the right and opportunity to worship in their mosques,” he told ABC radio. “Planning should deal with planning matters, not religious matters”.