Frydenberg stands by Islam claim

FEDERAL minister Josh Frydenberg is sticking by his claim that “a problem with Islam” is behind the global terror crisis. Speaking on Sky News late last month, Frydenberg appeared to depart from his government’s softer stance on the link between terrorism and flaws in Islam, when he spoke of a “large element of denial … when it comes to confronting the fact that this is a problem within Islam”.

While praising Muslim moderates, Frydenberg said, “I would say it is a problem within Islam. The point about Islam is that this is a minority of extremists, and you could argue it’s even a small minority of extremists, but it’s a significant minority of extremists and it does pose a challenge to our way of life in Australia.

“We need to acknowledge the significance of this threat, to acknowledge that religion is part of this problem, and thirdly, because this is the key point, we need to deal with it at a hard edge – with a military response – but we also need to deal with it with a counter-narrative.”

Frydenberg – the Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia – also criticised Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, the Grand Mufti of Australia, over his response to last month’s terrorist strikes against France.

He said the Mufti’s initial statement about “causative factors” of terrorism, such as Islamophobia, racism, national security laws and foreign-policy decisions, was the Muslim leader’s “instinctive reaction”, while his subsequent clarification was merely a “cover-up”.

Frydenberg’s assessment contrasted with that of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who welcomed the Mufti’s second response, stating he had “cleared up the issue”.

Frydenberg’s comments were endorsed by West Australian Liberal MP Andrew Hastie and deputy chair of the intelligence committee Andrew Nikolic. But Diaa Mohamed, recent founder of the Australian Muslim Party, condemned his views as “irresponsible and careless” and “offensive”.

Frydenberg also came under attack from the ALP, with multiculturalism spokesperson Michelle Rowland stating, “It is incorrect to imply that the reference to causative factors provides justification for these acts of terrorism,” and Labor frontbencher Tony Burke describing his comments as “needlessly regressive”. Both MPs hold seats in western Sydney with large Muslim populations.

Despite the reaction to his comments, Frydenberg told The AJN this week: “It’s got nothing to do with being a moderate or a conservative, Jewish or not – it was just my honest and frank assessment about what I think needs to be done to defeat violent, Islamic extremism.”

AJN STAFF