(Transcript from World News Radio)
Does Australia need more federal legislation to protect Australians from being victimised because of their religion?
Some Australian Muslim leaders say there is such a need, arguing their community is feeling particularly vulnerable at present.
But as Santilla Chingaipe reports, representatives of other religions say if there was to be such a move, it shouldn't be just for the sake of Muslims.
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Kuranda Seyit is the Secretary of the Islamic Council of Victoria.
He agrees that Muslims have the same protections as any other Australians against direct acts of violence or other criminal actions directed at them.
However, Mr Seyit says he's worried about what he calls hate speech which can incite violence against Muslims.
"Attacking Muslims, promoting violence, calling for white supremacist groups to take action, violent action against Muslims - this is a serious issue that has not been addressed in our community. And because it is online, it's a hard area to provide legislation for, but it needs to be addressed by our government and we need to be able to deal with it. Because the more we leave information like that online, it's only a matter of time when someone takes that seriously and take the next step - take a violent measure against someone who is an innocent party, (and who) has nothing to do with what's going on overseas.
Victoria is the only state that makes both religious discrimination and vilification illegal.
Anna Brown from the Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Centre says it's unclear how the federal Racial Discrimination Act applies to discrimination against someone because of their religion.
She says Jewish people have successfully used the Act in a test case that recognised Jews as a race.
"There's not any protection against religious vilification in the Racial Discrimination Act, although race is a very fluid concept because it can include Jewish people because they've been found to be a social group because of their ethnic origin in a sense as well as their religion, they've been found to be protected by the legislation and other religious groups are not and it's a significant gap in our laws. That means that Muslims and other religious groups don't have sufficient protection against religious based discrimination and vilification."
Dr Yassir Morsi is a researcher at the Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding at the University of South Australia.
He argues Muslims are struggling to gain adequate protection under current laws.
"There is some protection under hate speech, for example. If a group is seen to be guilty of directing its hate speech depending on your religion, maybe on a state level in Victoria they're covered there, but given the current political environment we're in, there's no specific covering for Muslims precisely because of the ambiguity of what it means to be Muslim - whether racial, political or religious category."
However, Dr Morsi acknowledges it would be difficult for Muslims to seek protection under the current Racial Discrimination Act, as a race rather than a religious group.
"That's not to say there are no biological or physical differences between people, but the story we give to explain something like race is a social construction. So when we speak about Muslims as something separate from Jews, yes there's an understanding that the Jewish lineages that come from the mother but the Muslim is an ideological assertion or religious commitment where as one is based on if you will fate. You're born Jewish, you're born black, you're born Asian, and one's chosen at will - you continue to choose to be Muslim. And that's really problematic when you look at how human societies are formed and the stories we give ourselves."
Lyall Shelton is the Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby.
She says if Muslims were to be recognised as a race under the Racial Discrimination Act, then other religions would have to be, too.
"If we're going to create a law that treats the Islamic religion in the same way a race might be treated then well, should us Christians be treated as a race, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists - It just becomes very problematic."
Kuranda Seyit from the Islamic Council of Victoria suggests expanding discrimination laws to make sure that religion and religious practices are included, without having to refer to race.
But he concedes that it's not a popular view.
"Some people believe that religion should not be included in legislation that protects people - particularly around ethnicity, or sex or age discrimination. But the way society is moving there is a clear argument to have more legislation in place to protect people particularly against religious hatred or hate speech for example or religious vilification - i think there's definitely an argument for that. I think certain religious groups are identifiable by the way they dress, their religious practices or their culture are sometimes misconstrued as an ethnic group."
Pastor Danny Nalliah from the evangelical Christian group, Catch the Fire Ministries, questions why Muslims are concerned about changing the laws.
"Why is it that only they are worried about it? Why aren't the Buddhists worried about it? Why aren't the Hindus worried about it?"
Lyall Shelton from the Australian Christian Lobby says he can understand why Muslims are particularly concerned about religiously-motivated acts of violence, given the current political climate.
He says this doesn't make him want stronger racial and religious discrimination laws, believing they've already gone far enough.
But Mr Shelton says if there are to be stronger laws, then they have to be very carefully worded.
"If there was incitement to violence against someone because of their religion, that could well be a case for amending the law. But not in a way that curbs free speech. I think it's important for us to be able to criticise each other's religions. Christianity is often criticised and vilified. We're happy to take that on in the public debate and I think that should be the same for Islam, Buddhism or any other religion."
