Growing anger and disillusionment within the Muslim community over Australia’s response to the Israel-Gaza war is materialising into a grassroots movement aimed at swinging votes from the federal government.
Muslim Votes Matter, an Australian political advocacy group, launched its national campaign on Sunday aiming to mobilise Muslim and minority communities ahead of the federal election.
There is huge discontent and disenchantment amongst the Muslim community around the lack of government acknowledgement for the community’s views, national spokesman Ghaith Krayem said.
“It is clear to us that politically, the Muslim community is being sidelined,” he said.
“It is disenfranchised.”
About 1200 Israelis were killed and 250 hostages taken after Hamas militants stormed a music festival on October 7.
In response, Israel’s military has killed about 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry.
The movement of almost 1000 volunteers will mobilise, organise and elevate the voices of Australian Muslims in the political sphere.
It expects to recruit an army of up to 3000 core volunteers in addition to a pool of volunteers for specific events come election time.
The group aims to change the narrative around Muslim involvement in politics, mobilise and educate the community on who to vote for, and secure voting swings in targeted seats.
“We get the same message in every community session we run,” Mr Krayem said.
“They are angry, they are disillusioned, and by the end of those sessions, the consistent message is, ‘just tell us who to vote for’.”
But unlike community independent movements such as the teals, the group has no intention of becoming a political party or running candidates.
“We will assess candidates in the seats that we are looking at, based on a common set of criteria, and make recommendations to our community on who we believe they should vote for.”
The criteria are yet to be determined as Muslim Votes Matters surveys community views on issues other than what is unfolding in the Middle East such as education, health and cost of living.
The movement has identified 32 federal seats with sizeable proportions of Muslim residents, a majority of them held by Labor including Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Education Minister Jason Clare’s seats.
Targeted seats will be announced once the election, due to be held by May 2025, is called.
The Muslim community is one of the largest and fastest-growing voting blocs, holding significant potential to swing seats in more than 20 seats across Australia, the group said.
“Any door-knocking we do will be based on our how-to-vote cards, we will have stalls on the ground and we will attend all community events,” Mr Krayem said.
The federal government has called for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East but Mr Krayem said there has been almost no substantial change in their position concerning Gaza and the government’s support for Israel.
“The community now recognises that it’s been taken for granted for some time by the Labor Party and ignored by the coalition,” he said.
Muslim Votes Matter’s vision extends into the long term with the group looking to campaign in state and local elections.
“The days where you could assume what our community will do come election day are over,” Mr Krayem said.
“We are going to take our political future into our own hands.”
