| COMMUNITY STATEMENT-The Government Cannot Decide Who Represents Us |
** AFIC is making this issue public not to create division but to ensure our community understands what is happening.
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COMMUNITY STATEMENT-The Government Cannot Decide Who Represents Us
24/11/2025
(See translation in Arabic section)
Sydney-Middle East Times Int'l: La CastelleThe Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) is issuing this statement to the Muslim community to make transparent deep concerns about the direction the Federal Government is taking in its engagement with our community.
In recent months, the Government allocated $27 million in mosque security and infrastructure funding through a closed, non-competitive process to a single organisation, the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC). There was no open call, no transparency, and no opportunity for the many mosque boards, Islamic councils, or national community bodies to even apply.
Since then, organisations across the country have reported being directed by government officials to go to ANIC to access these public funds. Funds that are meant for the protection and wellbeing of the Muslim community but now controlled by a single private body that does not manage mosques and does not represent the Muslim community’s institutional structure.
This is what prompted AFIC to write to the Prime Minister the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, the Hon Dr Anne Aly MP, on 9 September 2025, outlining our serious concerns about the Government’s approach. To date, no response has been received.
By bypassing open processes and channelling community funding through one non-representative organisation, the Government is actively reshaping community dynamics, in favor of organisations that are supportive of its positions and trying to force the rest of the community to fall into line through the use of funding.
ANIC is a body of individual Imams. It does not represent mosque boards, community centres, or institutions. It is not accountable to local congregations or state-based councils. And it does not speak for the majority of Imams across Australia, many of whom operate through other independent structures, including AFIC’s own National Shariah Board.
AFIC, in contrast, is a democratic, community-led body representing over 200 member organisations and with Councils across every state and territory. For over 60 years, it has managed mosques, supported Imams, delivered education, coordinated community safety, and led national advocacy.
Our concern is not about any particular organisation but about the integrity of public processes and the future of Muslim representation in this country.
What is happening now is unprecedented: public money is being handed to a non-representative body through a closed-door process, and the rest of the community is being told to go, hand-in-glove, to that same body to access it. This is a manufactured monopoly, not community empowerment.
This is not how genuine partnership works. This is not consultation. This is political gatekeeping dressed up as community support.
AFIC is making this issue public not to create division but to ensure our community understands what is happening. We cannot remain silent while the Government plays politics with our institutions, our mosques, and our collective voice.
We call on the Government to end this preferential and undemocratic approach, and to adopt a model of engagement that is inclusive, accountable, and representative of the full diversity and structure of the Australian Muslim community.
And we call on our brothers and sisters across the country to remain informed, united, and steadfast in upholding the principle that only the community can decide who represents it, not governments, and not backroom deals.
Dr Rateb Jneid
President - AFIC |
