Muslims fear being used as scapegoats in Australian election
Wednesday, December 13, 2006 Islamic leaders believe the Federal Government will use the community as scapegoats in next year's federal election campaign. Their fears are heightened by the Government's failure to release the report of Prime Minister John Howard's hand-picked Muslim advisory group examining how to tackle extremism, terrorism and other issues facing the Muslim community.
Muslim Reference Group member Yasser Soliman said the Government was holding back the group's report while sending critical messages to the wider community, and "some people can read between the lines".
Mr Soliman, the past president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said he was baffled at the delay. "It is commonly said, and not only by Muslims, that the reason is, they want to position the Muslim community as refusing to integrate and not contributing to the nation, and this report might challenge a few of those perceptions," he said.