Australian council closes Muslim community center as place of worship

MERIMBULA, Australia (MNTV) — Muslims in the coastal town of Merimbula, in the state of New South Wales, say they have been left isolated after a local council classified their community center as a place of worship, effectively shutting it down, the broadcaster ABC reported.

The Bega Valley Shire Council warned users of the Ummah Community Centre that any further use could trigger enforcement action, citing planning rules. The move follows a change in May that expanded councils’ powers to close spaces deemed places of worship, introduced after last year’s mass shooting in Sydney’s Bondi neighborhood.

Qayyum Shah, a user of the center, said the ruling made little sense.

“This is a community centre, not a mosque,” he said, describing the prayer area as incidental — like the prayer rooms found in airports, libraries, and schools — and noting members used it for prayer less than 20 minutes a week.

The council said the center’s broader activities fit a “community facility” category, but that recurring religious worship is captured separately under planning law and would require a development application.

Members said the new post-Bondi powers are unclear as applied to spaces like theirs, which have non-Muslim users and function, Shah said, as a secular, multi-faith social hub for local doctors, business owners, and families.

Secretary Nathan Munro-Donohue, whose wife is Christian, warned the rules could equally catch a weekly Bible study group. Center president Marwa Hudson said local Muslims felt “dejected” and “banished from their space.”