information for practice

news & new scholarship from around the world

February 21, 2007

Muslim Australians

There is currently a great deal of interest in, and misunderstanding about, Australia’s Muslim communities. Muslim Australians are not a homogenous group as some media reports might lead us to believe, but make up a small, culturally diverse section of Australian society. Over a third (36 per cent) of Muslim Australians are Australian-born, while those who have arrived here as immigrants come from all over the world—from Lebanon and Turkey to Bangladesh and Fiji. Some come from countries where women wear a burqa or a veil, most do not. And despite concerns expressed by some, many others argue that the vast majority of Muslim Australians see no conflict of loyalty between Islam and Australian citizenship.

Posted by Gary Holden at February 21, 2007 12:00 AM