Younger Muslim Australians facing deeper insecurity

SYDNEY, Australia (MNTV) – A generation of Muslim Australians born and raised in the country is experiencing a heightened sense of insecurity, with new findings indicating that fear has become embedded in daily life.

In a personal account for Women’s Agenda website, refugee resettlement advocate Yamamah Agha said her Australian-born daughter has recently begun avoiding public spaces and calling in sick to work out of fear for her safety.

“She doesn’t feel safe travelling,” Agha wrote, noting that her daughter avoids busy locations such as Westfield Bondi Junction and relies on messaging groups where young Muslim women share updates on which areas feel unsafe.

The concerns echo findings from the Australian Human Rights Commission report titled The Struggle to Be Seen, the Power in Being Heard, which compiles testimonies from Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian, Arab and Israeli Australians describing persistent anxiety in their daily lives.

According to the report, many respondents described fear not as a reaction to isolated incidents but as an ongoing condition shaping where they go, how they behave, and whether they feel safe participating in public life.

Agha, who has worked in refugee and migrant resettlement for nearly two decades, said the current climate marks a shift from earlier periods. Having migrated from Lebanon before the Sept. 11 attacks, she said suspicion toward Muslims has evolved from a temporary reaction into what she described as a “background hum” of Australian society.

Her daughter, who chose to wear the hijab as a teenager, has grown up in that environment but now faces what Agha described as a heightened level of caution — involving constant risk assessment before commuting, working, or socializing.

The commission’s report notes that racism today often “homogenizes, diminishes and silences communities” while “dehumanizing and isolating individuals,” warning that such patterns are no longer sporadic but increasingly systemic.

The issue has also drawn attention to what advocates describe as unequal responses to violence. 

Agha pointed to the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, when a white Australian gunman targeted Muslim worshippers, noting that broader communities were not collectively blamed. By contrast, she said, acts carried out by individuals claiming links to Islam often result in scrutiny directed at Muslim communities as a whole.

Similar concerns were raised following the Lindt Cafe siege, when Muslim Australians reported fear of backlash. Agha recounted an incident in which a friend and her children were told to “go back where you came from,” despite being Australian-born.

Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, said that existing protections are not being effectively enforced.

The findings have also intensified scrutiny of government action. The commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework, released 18 months ago, outlines 63 recommendations aimed at strengthening protections against discrimination. However, the federal government has yet to formally adopt any of them.

Public discourse has further complicated the issue. Statements by political figures including Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce, and Bob Katter have been cited by advocates as contributing to a climate where multiculturalism is increasingly framed as a problem rather than a strength.

Analysts say such rhetoric risks reinforcing exclusion and normalizing suspicion toward minority groups.

For Agha, the impact is deeply personal. She said the growing sense of insecurity raises fundamental questions about belonging for younger generations of Muslim Australians who have known no other home.

“If we are told to go back, again and again,” she wrote, “the question becomes unavoidable: where are we supposed to go?”