Muslim Australia and the search for a solution of the 'War on Terror'

There are almost 500,000 Muslims in Australia, with 400 mosques serving them. According to the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) 2012-103 Annual Report to the Australian Parliament, there are over 200 terror investigations going on. This infers that massive government resources are being ploughed into monitoring and surveillance of the Muslim community in Australia, as four Australian Prime Ministers have admitted.

There appears to be an insecurity on the part of lawmakers and successive governments about Muslim citizens in the Australian community. At first it was about immigration, and violence, which grew into terrorism after 9/11. The evidence used to support policy has not been accurate according to prominent Australian Tim Costello.

Official government comment and stories from within the Muslim community itself, indicate that the security services are spying on their own people in a similar manner they did with communist groups within the Australian community back in the 1950s and 60s.

According to both documented evidence and interviews of Muslims living in Australia, a disturbing picture of how groups of Australian's are monitored and attempted to be influenced evolves.

According to this evidence, the Australian Government through various agencies uses both hard and soft approaches in their engagement of the many Islamic communities within Australia.

This first of these approaches has been through the use of intimidating legislation. The Australian Government has used world events to introduce anti-terror laws that allow for detention, lesson the burden of proof in courts of law, allow for easier surveillance, and drastically decrease the rights of Australian citizens in regards to the legal process, etc. This has given the government much more power over its citizens with little criticism by the Australian community. The mainstream media in Australia through sensationalism has generally supported such measures with only pockets of concern and criticism coming from minor alternative and foreign media.

The media sensationalism of Australia's harsh anti-terror laws and 'public ritualism' through airport security for example, serves to remind and intimidate the Australian public about the threat of terrorism.

The media has used narratives which have contributed to 'Islamphobia' within Australia. This has suited government legislative objectives. Headlines like "Halal food dishing out radical change to society", in The Daily Telegraph on 22nd May 2013, "Sharia unwelcome", in The Australian on 9th March 2012, "Repressing women is sharia's raison d'etre'", in The Sydney Morning Herald on 5th May 2011, and "Muslim leader blames women for sex attacks", in The Australian on 26th October 2006, are examples of this.

Media control of these narratives has certainly been a massive influence dividing the general population against Muslims in Australia according to a Victorian Police and Victoria University Research report.

This has coincided with a number of acts of violence towards both Muslims and mosques within Australia.

Groups like 'Reclaim Australia'thrive on these narratives to develop resentment in their propaganda against Muslims in Australia.

The Australian government has invested large sums of money and resources to electronically monitor the population as has been reported before. Some of this is undertaken 'offshore' by contractors to circumvent Australian law.