❓ Mr. Abetz asks about the government's response to attacks on mosques in Thornlie and Southern River. The Minister condemns the attacks, highlights their impact on the Muslim community and foreign students, and praises the community's response.
AnsweredQoN 460Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MOSQUES — ATTACKS
460. Mr P. ABETZ to the Minister for
Citizenship and Multicultural Interests:
Could the minister please outline the state government's
response to last night's torching of a car and graffiti vandalism
attack outside the Thornlie Mosque?
460. Mr P. ABETZ to the Minister for
Citizenship and Multicultural Interests:
Could the minister please outline the state government's
response to last night's torching of a car and graffiti vandalism
attack outside the Thornlie Mosque?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. Just to inform members, last night
a car was set alight at the Thornlie Mosque. A few days before that, at
Southern River Mosque, there was another attack. These incidents are an attack
on all of us. Luckily, we live in a very harmonious society committed to
diversity of religion, ethnicity and freedom of expression. By singling out a certain
segment of the community, in this case the Muslim community, this is an attack
on us. Just on the people, they are no different than ISIS.
It was made worse by some
conditions. Firstly, we are in the holy month of Ramadan and during Ramadan,
after the fast is broken, people go to the mosque so the attackers knew that
there would likely be a large number of people there. Secondly, the Thornlie
Mosque is associated with the Australian Islamic College Thornlie, which has 2 000
kids. The attempt was to illustrate hatred and discrimination to young minds.
Also, the school has a large number of children of the foreign students who pay
money to attend Curtin University. They are mainly from the Middle East, but
also a range of other places. It sends a signal to our guests—our
foreign students—and their children that Western Australia is not a hospitable
place. Thirdly and probably worst of all, in the attack at Southern River
Mosque, someone threw a pig head into the building, defiling the mosque. It is
despicable. We could see the reaction, particularly of the Islamic community,
as being reviling and defensive, but the sheikh Yahya Adel Ibrahim said this;
he is the imam of the mosque, the school, and at Curtin University —
''Thankfully our community won't
start hating and playing blame games and singling out groups of people in our
society.
He goes on to say —
''I know the outpouring of
support from the community will be overwhelming because Perth has the best,
kindest, and most warm-hearted people.''
That is how to respond to hatred
like this. I would like to thank the sheik for it and I would like all of us—in
government, and hopefully Parliament—to stand by our Muslim brothers
and sisters at this time of attack.
a car was set alight at the Thornlie Mosque. A few days before that, at
Southern River Mosque, there was another attack. These incidents are an attack
on all of us. Luckily, we live in a very harmonious society committed to
diversity of religion, ethnicity and freedom of expression. By singling out a certain
segment of the community, in this case the Muslim community, this is an attack
on us. Just on the people, they are no different than ISIS.
It was made worse by some
conditions. Firstly, we are in the holy month of Ramadan and during Ramadan,
after the fast is broken, people go to the mosque so the attackers knew that
there would likely be a large number of people there. Secondly, the Thornlie
Mosque is associated with the Australian Islamic College Thornlie, which has 2 000
kids. The attempt was to illustrate hatred and discrimination to young minds.
Also, the school has a large number of children of the foreign students who pay
money to attend Curtin University. They are mainly from the Middle East, but
also a range of other places. It sends a signal to our guests—our
foreign students—and their children that Western Australia is not a hospitable
place. Thirdly and probably worst of all, in the attack at Southern River
Mosque, someone threw a pig head into the building, defiling the mosque. It is
despicable. We could see the reaction, particularly of the Islamic community,
as being reviling and defensive, but the sheikh Yahya Adel Ibrahim said this;
he is the imam of the mosque, the school, and at Curtin University —
''Thankfully our community won't
start hating and playing blame games and singling out groups of people in our
society.
He goes on to say —
''I know the outpouring of
support from the community will be overwhelming because Perth has the best,
kindest, and most warm-hearted people.''
That is how to respond to hatred
like this. I would like to thank the sheik for it and I would like all of us—in
government, and hopefully Parliament—to stand by our Muslim brothers
and sisters at this time of attack.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.