Sunday Mornings at Café Locked Out
10AM SUNDAY 25 JANUARY, 2026
WITH KEYSAR TRAD, JOHN STAPLETON AND MICHAEL GRAY GRIFFITH
There has been a massive backlash against the hate speech laws rammed through parliament this week, not least among the Muslim community. Like virtually everybody else in Australia, the Albanese government did not bother to consult them.
At one time, as the spokesman for the Lakemba Mosque in Western Sydney and its ever-controversial leader Sheikh Taj el-Din Hilaly (later to become Mufti of Australia), Keysar Trad was for decades one of the most famous Muslims in Australia.
He fronted the media through numerous controversies, including the riots at Cronulla and the media-generated furore over comments by the Sheikh on modesty, comparing scantily clad women to “uncovered meat”.
There were many other highly controversial episodes, some of which Keysar would like to forget.
Keysar served multiple terms as President of the Lebanese Muslim Association and was the Founder and President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.
In an article for the Australasian Muslim Times, Keysar Trad describes the hate speech laws as the great betrayal:
For decades, the Australian Muslim community has been a reliable pillar of support for the major political parties. We supported the two-party system, some supported minor parties and in all, we embraced the electoral process as an epitome of the Australian “fair go.” This week, that belief was shattered.
A part of me feels that this is Milton Friedman’s “Shock Doctrine” on full display. The national shock of the tragedy at Bondi Beach, which took innocent lives, [was] blatantly exploited by political charlatans.
Like a pre-written script pulled from a drawer, the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act 2026 was rushed through a recalled Parliament while the nation was still in mourning.
It is a classic “shock” tactic: using a crisis to pass ill-considered, anti-democratic laws that placate masters behind the scenes while stripping away our essential freedoms.
While the government marketed this as a safety measure, the rhetoric in the House and Senate told a darker story. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to create an “aggravated offence” for religious leaders—carrying a staggering 12-year prison sentence—is a clear prostration before “the lobby”.
Imam groups warned that this bill treats faith leadership as a “risk factor.” It effectively creates a two-tiered legal system where an Imam’s moral commentary or theological instruction can be criminalised under vague definitions of “promoting hatred.”
The so-called “religious text defence” is a hollow shell; it does not protect the application of theology to modern struggles, leaving our speakers in a state of constant legal peril.
The case of Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is particularly galling. A former member of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, Ley’s political journey has ended in a total kowtow to the Zionist lobby.
The most painful irony is the total erasure of Islamophobia. Despite reports from 2025 showing that Muslims are the primary targets of hate and vilification in this country, the word is absent from the Act’s distinct protections.
The response for future elections must be one of leverage, not loyalty. Groups like “The Muslim Vote” and “Muslim Votes Matter”, along with principled minor parties, can—with the right tweaks—offer a real alternative. We are no longer a “captured” vote.
Islam is a religion [that] is socialist in its leanings, arguing that all men are equal before God, and Australia’s Muslim community has traditionally leaned left.
But the Albanese government was already treading on thin ice with Muslim voters due to his embrace of gay pride and gay marriage, [which are] anathema to the Muslim faith. While Labor politicians have courted and come to rely on the Muslim vote for decades, particularly in Western Sydney, that certainty has disappeared. And the hate speech laws may well have just kicked that certainty over the line for good..