Islamophobia Cannot Be Fixed If It Is Not Counted: NCAM Backs a National Anti-Racism Data Plan

Media Release – 2 November 2026

The National Council of Australian Muslims (NCAM) backs the Australian Human Rights Commission’s call for national reform of how racism is recorded. Its report Data for Change, released on 28 October, found that data on race and racism is fragmented or collected inconsistently, so that experiences of racism are “severely undercounted or erased”. The Commission made 16 recommendations, led by a National Anti-Racism Data Plan.

“Every Muslim woman abused on a bus and every mosque wall defaced deserves to be counted,” NCAM Director Sajida Salman said. “If governments cannot see the full picture of hate, they cannot fix it.”

NCAM believes the gap is especially wide for Islamophobia. Australian Muslims come from many ethnic backgrounds. When hate is recorded only by race or ethnicity, attacks aimed at a person’s faith can fall through the cracks, and many incidents are never reported at all because victims doubt anything will be done.

The Race Discrimination Commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, has noted that no level of government has yet endorsed the National Anti-Racism Framework released in November 2024, let alone funded it. Meanwhile, the Scanlon Foundation’s 2025 social cohesion report found that only 46 per cent of adults feel a strong sense of belonging in Australia, down from 63 per cent in 2020.

NCAM calls on federal, state and territory governments to fund and implement a National Anti-Racism Data Plan; to ensure every police force records hate crimes motivated by religion, including Islamophobia, consistently and transparently; to endorse and fund the National Anti-Racism Framework; and to complete their response to the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia’s recommendations, alongside measures against antisemitism, so that every community is protected equally.

“We welcome the steps already taken, including stronger hate crime laws and a national anti-racism campaign,” Ms Salman said. “Now governments should fund this work, for every community. What gets counted gets addressed.”

For media inquiries, please contact: media@ncam.au

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National Council of Australian Muslims (NCAM) acknowledges all First Peoples as the Traditional Custodians throughout the land across Australia, and pay our respects to Elders past and present. We recognise and respect the historical and traditional connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have to the land, water, culture and community. We appreciate the importance of the world’s oldest living culture, and support the union of a reconciled Australia. NCAM is committed to ensuring inclusion, equity and equality.