Activist Group Plans to Target Muslim Voters in Labor Party Strongholds

Two activist groups say they will try to coax the country’s 800,000 strong Muslim community to move their vote away from Labor.

A person puts their vote into a ballot box at a polling centre at St Kilda Primary school in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 14, 2023. A referendum for Australians to decide on an indigenous voice to parliament was held on Oct. 14, 2023 and compelled all Australians to vote by law. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

A Muslim group is pushing to sway results at the next Australian federal election, with a call for candidates in Muslim-populated parts of the country.

The movement appears to be linked to Australia’s involvement in the Middle East in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, with sitting politicians being judged on their position, or lack of, on the conflict.

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils issued their call on July 1 offering support to any potential candidates.

“Eight hundred thousand Muslims and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils is ready to support you today,” the group posted to Facebook.

“The Muslim Vote” group, which uses the same bright pink campaign colour as groups of the same name in the United States and UK, says it has the power to influence government, and force Labor into a minority at the next election.

The group says it plans to target seats with high concentrations of Muslim voters (many in Sydney and Melbourne).

“Historically reliant on the support of these key demographics, Labor now finds itself in unknown territory due to its position on Gaza ...” Muslim Vote said in a statement online.

Labor MPs Ranked on Middle East Views

The website outlines the position of sitting Labor politicians and their position on Palestine and Israel.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers is ranked as “weak on Palestine,” while Education Minister Jason Clare—whose electorate Blaxland is 31.7 percent Muslim, the highest in the country—was deemed to be “mostly silent on Palestine.”

Workplace Minister Tony Burke, the member for Watson (25.1 percent Muslim voters), was deemed to have expressed “strong solidarity with Israel,” and offered “weak support for Palestine.”

On X, the activist group has also pledged support for estranged Labor Senator Fatima Payman, who was suspended from Labor after crossing the floor—against her own party—to support the Green’s call for Palestine to be recognised as its own state. The senator quit the Labor Party on July 4.

“The Muslim Vote is powerful enough to sway the outcome of the next federal election,” the group said online.

“The showdown will be in southwest Sydney and Melbourne where there is a high density of Muslims in key areas. We are not just a movement of talk. We mean business.”

Worshippers participate in Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, outside the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney on April 10, 2024. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP) Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images

Another group, known as Muslim Votes Matter, has taken a similar approach, but did not respond to questions from The Epoch Times about whether it was linked to The Muslim Vote.

The campaign, which is not a political party but rather an activist body backing independent candidates, has drawn comparisons to the Teal movement of 2022, which targeted affluent Liberal Party strongholds.

Within that movement, Teal candidates ran as independents, though many held uniform views around climate change, and benefited from donations from Simon Holmes à Court.

Unlikely to Have the Same Impact as the Teals: Expert

Associate Professor Paul Williams from Griffith University’s School of Social Science says the comparison is inaccurate, however.

The Teal independents, he says, appealed to a much broader demographic.

Mr. Williams said it was important to remember Muslims generally did not vote uniformly, just like Greek or Chinese Australian voters.

The Muslim Vote movement could have a small impact, but nowhere near as far-reaching as the Teals and it would be limited to key seats in western Sydney, according to Mr. Williams.

“They’re not going to get more primary votes than Labor or the Liberals,” he told The Epoch Times.

“If they come third, who will they preference, Labor or the Coalition?” he said, noting the preference system. “It’s sort of like a moot point.”

Worshippers participate in Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, outside the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney on April 10, 2024. Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images

Mr. Williams said the group would struggle to work out whether to preference either Labor, who it sees as weak on Palestinian issues, or the Coalition which is strong in its support for Israel.

He said the Greens also were not an option because their policies would not align with Muslim religious beliefs, and even if the group fell in with the Greens, the left-wing party would still be a minority.

Yet the Labor government’s hold on power is tenuous given it has 78 seats in the lower house—just two shy of the benchmark of 76 to form government—and in the upper house, Labor holds just 25 of the total 76 seats.

The impact of a grassroots campaign could be similar to that of the current Member for Fowler Dai Le, who managed to become the first non-Labor Party MP in that western Sydney electorate via a vigorous campaign emphasising her roots in the community.

Meanwhile, the crossbench in both levels of Parliament have expanded steadily over the years to include an assortment of Greens and independent MPs—a situation Mr. Williams says could be hard to change.

“Independent candidates can promise anything, but because they aren’t able to deliver and can easily blame someone else, they tend to stay in favour with voters,” he said.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Islam was the second most practised religion in Australia, but still comprises a small portion of the country’s population.

A majority of Australians (43.9 percent) identify as Christian, while Islam represents 3.2 percent of the country.