Tony Abbott has been urged to speak out more strongly against Islamophobia in Australia following reports of mosques being defaced, women verbally abused on the street and death threats issued to Muslim figures.



Community leaders have said they are deeply worried that Australia’s mission against Islamic State (Isis) and recent anti-terrorism raids are fuelling attacks against Muslims in Australia.

Almir Colan, executive member of the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV), told Guardian Australia that his organisation had met government ministers to call on them to change the language they use when talking about the Muslim community.

“We’ve told them they need to fire their speech writers,” he said. “In private they say they support us, but we don’t want to hear it in private, we want to hear it in public.

“We want the prime minister to lower the rhetoric and concentrate on responsible, productive language. If Tony Abbott used strong words, if he said that an attack on Muslims is an attack on all of us, that would isolate the bigots and reassure Muslims.”

Colan said the Muslim community was dismayed at comments made by a Palmer United party senator, Jacqui Lambie, who told parliament that supporters of Islamic sharia law were “maniacs and depraved humans” who would use rape and murder to force every Australian woman to wear a burqa. Lambie wants the burqa banned in Australia.

“I felt ashamed for her, watching that,” Colan said. “Lambie is someone who has become radicalised by media propaganda. It’s deeply, deeply offensive.

“But why is the prime minister not condemning those comments? He talks about team Australia, but we feel it’s like a citizenship test, that we have to keep proving ourselves. It gives indirect permission for bigots to attack us.

“We feel excluded from team Australia. That phrase has caused so many negative divisions in our community. It feels more like team Abbott.”

Colan said his wife had become afraid to leave the house and go shopping in Melbourne for fear of being attacked.

A note that the ICV said appeared to threaten Muslims with death was recently left near a mosque in Doncaster, Victoria.

Threats have also reportedly been made against the grand mufti of Australia, Lakemba mosque and Auburn mosque.

The word “evil” was daubed on a mosque in Mareeba, in Queensland, while anti-Muslim slogans were sprayed on a car in Liverpool, NSW.

Women wearing the hijab have reported being verbally abused on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne, with one woman claiming that a man tried to run her over at a school crossing as she attempted to pick up her daughter.

Islamophobic comments have become commonplace on Twitter and Facebook, with social media users calling on Muslims to be beheaded, deported or blown up.

The incidents follow raids in Sydney and Brisbane involving more than 800 police officers, who allegedly broke up a plot to publicly behead a random member of the public.

The Australian government has committed forces to take on Islamic State in Iraq and has raised the domestic alert level to “high”. New laws are set to be introduced to give intelligence officials greater powers when dealing with terrorism suspects.

Abbott has stressed that everyone is on “team Australia” and has called the Islamic community “absolutely first-class Australians”. But he has also criticised Muslims who protested in Lakemba over the raids and called the ICV “foolish” for not meeting with him in the wake of his “team Australia” comments.

“There are some signs the government is listening, but the language isn’t catching up,” Colan said. “There must be more vocal support for Muslims.

“If there isn’t, I’m worried that more Australians will become radicalised against Muslims. All of this talk, especially from the media, is giving these bigots oxygen. They feel they have cover, they feel as if they are invisible in this cloud of Islamophobia.”

Joseph Wakim, co-founder of the Australian Arabic Council, said that Abbott needed to make a “clear and bold statement” against Islamophobia.

“When he uses his rhetoric of team Australia, he needs to remind people that team Australia isn’t about the kicking of Muslims, it’s not about kicking fellow members of your team who have been part of this community for several centuries,” Wakim told the ABC.