Muslims face Racial Discrimination, but don't have Protection under Act

Muslim Australians experience discrimination and abuse on a daily or regular basis, according to a new report by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

But even though communities say the discrimination has been particularly noticeable since the Lindt Cafe siege last year, the research finds the Racial Discrimination Act has only a "limited" ability to protect Muslim Australians, because "religious identity" is not covered under the act.

Freedom from Discrimination, released on Thursday, also finds that many other Australians also experience racial discrimination as a "constant feature" in the workplace, on the street and in the media.

During consultations with more than 130 community, legal, university and government groups this year, discrimination against Muslims was "consistently raised as [a] significant concern".

"Many participants labelled anti-Muslim discrimination a daily or regular occurrence, particularly following the Sydney Lindt cafe siege in December 2014 and heightened concerns about national security," it found.

Groups said hostile treatment towards Muslim Australians were impinging on people's freedoms, with reports that Muslim women were changing where they shopped and that a group of Muslim musicians had cancelled a performance due to fears they would be attacked on public transport on the way there.

The Human Rights Commission also heard that many Muslims did not make much distinction between religious discrimination and racial discrimination.

"Being on the receiving end of anti-Muslim sentiment was often described in terms of racism."

Despite this, the report acknowledged that the Racial Discrimination Act had "limited" ability to protect Muslim Australians, because it only covered discrimination based on race, colour, ethnic or national origin or immigrant status - not religion.

This is different from Jewish Australians, as the Federal Court has found they have a common "ethnic origin" and are therefore owed protection under the act.

"Those who experience discrimination because of their Muslim identity may need to find other legal avenues through which to obtain redress," the report says.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane​ said the main purpose of the report was to "bring out the lived experience of racial discrimination".

"This isn't something that is always captured by survey research of by reporting and commentary in the media," he said.

Released for the 40th anniversary of the Racial Discrimination Act, the report notes that people who had ethnic sounding names were disadvantaged in the job market.

For example, a university student with an Indian name had no initial luck with a job application. When she put down her mother's Australian name for the same job, she got an interview request within three hours.

It also includes accounts of people yelling racial abuse out of rolled down car windows, or commuters making comments about women wearing headscarves.

"The experience of racial vilification - or the apprehension of such an experience - can be an intimidating one," it says.

Recommendations for future work include an annual national forum on racial tolerance, more emphasis on anti-racism education in the national curriculum and better public understanding of the Racial Discrimination Act, to tackle under-reporting of racial discrimination.

Mariam Veiszadeh​, founder of Islamophobia Register Australia, said there had been an increase in reports of verbal and physical abuse against Muslims since the group began tracking cases a year ago.

They include attacks on Muslim women targeted for wearing hijabs, assaults on public transport, online threats, property damage and graffiti.

"Based on preliminary findings there does appear to be a correlation between incidents of Islamophobia and increased government or media rhetoric around Muslims, Islam, and terrorism," Ms Veiszadeh said.

Voices from The Report

"I can tell you, I mean this actually happened with my daughter. My daughter's name is ... a very classical Indian name. When she applied under that name, when she was a university student, [the employer] didn't want to call her for an interview. What she did, she took her mother's name who is Australian, she put Alison, and within three hours she was called for an interview, for the same identical job ..."

"I was driving into the drive-thru of KFC and this white Australian guy was driving out. Now, he was driving in my lane, so I just stopped my car and waited for him, and was looking at him. Then he rolled his window down and he said, 'You black dog, go back to your country'."

"On the train, I noticed the odd hostile look from two passengers sitting opposite us and whispering to themselves. When they alighted at Town Hall station the woman commented in just enough volume to be heard, 'all Muslim women should remove their veils as a sign of respect'." - Sydney research participant, with a female Muslim colleague on a train, shortly after the Lindt Cafe siege.