NSW Labor MP Jihad Dib has called out the normalisation of hate speech after he said his daughter was "constantly harangued" for being Muslim during a Sydney weekend soccer game.
Mr Dib, who was the first Muslim person elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly, said that when he went to pick his 15-year-old daughter up after the game she was "deeply hurt and had been crying".
He told SBS News that his daughter had been told that she "doesn't belong here" and called "disgusting".
Another player was allegedly called "ching-chong" repeatedly throughout the match.
"The worry is that it was actually from kids, at least with adults maybe it's taken a while to learn that behaviour but when it's 15-year-old kids it's not what you expect," Mr Dib said.
"Only on Saturday night I was talking to some kids at a youth leadership event and one of them came up to me and it just was heartbreaking ... he said, 'I just don't ever feel like I belong here'."
Mr Dib said the football team would be making a formal complaint.
"We're seeing in the public domain that language of division, the language of us and them and this is how it plays out," he said.
"Racism is not new ... but I certainly think it is becoming more common, and it's certainly becoming nastier.
"And you see this politically in the public space in the language some politicians are choosing to use ... and it ends up having a trickle-down effect."
The allegations come as a series of federal election candidates are in hot water for racist, Islamophobic, homophobic and sexist comments made on social media.
Liberal candidates Jeremy Hearn and Jessica Whelan, specifically, were dumped from the party after inflammatory anti-Muslim posts were revealed.
Mr Hearn, who was formerly the Liberal candidate in the Melbourne seat of Isaacs, wrote that Muslim Australians were aiming to overthrow the Australian government.
Following the revelations, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Liberal Party would be looking to improve their candidate vetting process.
Hate speech against Muslims is reportedly on the rise following the horrific Christchurch terror attacks earlier this year, which left 51 Islamic worshippers dead.
In the United Kingdom, anti-Muslim attack monitoring group Tell Mama said they had seen a six-fold increase in reports following the shootings.
