PM releases government's response to Islamophobia report

Anthony Albanese releases government's response to Islamophobia report Sat 18 Jul 2026 at 11:41am The Albanese government's long-awaited response to its special envoy's report on Islamophobia has rejected calls for an overhaul of counter-terror laws, focusing instead on a new education taskforce and expanded community liaison teams for police. The government has committed to a package of new measures across education and awareness, protection and support, social cohesion, and accountability. The response includes a review of the education curriculum to strengthen racial and religious tolerance, new multicultural grant programs and additional mental health support, especially for Muslim women. The government's response comes 10 months after special envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, released his report with 54 recommendations. Releasing the government's response in Sydney on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended his decision not to adopt all of the recommendations. "We've said it's independent advice. What we don't do is we don't contract out government," he said. "Some of [the recommendations] we have adopted in full and are acting on already. Others we'll give further consideration to." Mr Albanese also sought to explain why he rebuffed a push to water down the importance of religion and ideology in defining terrorism in federal laws over Mr Malik's concerns they could lead to discrimination. "We operate our terror laws on the basis of appropriate advice from national security agencies," Mr Albanese said. "But primarily, we sit in the National Security Committee of the government and we take advice from our security agencies. I have confidence in them." The prime minister's formal response came more than two months after Mr Malik said the government was taking too long to act on his report, released in September last year. Mr Malik, who previously expressed concern about how long the government was taking to respond to his report, said he would continue to advocate for the recommendations that the government had not responded to. "My report remains my independent advice to the government and the benchmark against which progress should be measured," he said. "Where the government has acted, I will support that progress. "Where recommendations remain outstanding, I will continue to advocate for them." The government's response also rejects the special envoy's recommendation to establish a commission of inquiry into anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism to examine the main drivers, causes, impacts and experiences. Instead, it pointed to its delivery of "Australia's first longitudinal study of Islamophobia" through the Australian Research Council Project. "The government will consider how findings from this project can be analysed, including consideration of gendered impacts," the government's response said. Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly, who is Australia's first Muslim federal parliamentarian, said the government's responses go to "addressing some of the most significant manifestations of Islamophobia". "For the very first time, the very first time in the history of this country, we have a government that is willing to recognise that Islamophobia exists," she said. "[The government recognises] it is dangerously close to becoming normalised, and that it has traumatising, detrimental and long-lasting effects on a significant number of Australians." The government says the establishment of an Islamophobia Education Taskforce will include state and territory education authorities, agencies and departments to "rapidly help the education system prevent, tackle and properly respond to Islamophobia". A review of the Australian curriculum will examine all forms of hatred, including Islamophobia, to "identify opportunities" to strengthen racial and religious tolerance. An expansion of the Australian Federal Police community liaison teams will include the establishment of a "communications portal" to better support Muslim communities experiencing Islamophobia.