Hawraa, a Muslim Australian, placed Labor last on her ballot during this year’s federal election for the first time, hoping to send a message: “Do not take us for granted.”
Hawraa, who wished to remain anonymous except for her first name, expressed her disappointment upon hearing that Labor’s Peter Khalil was re-elected in the Melbourne seat of Wills, narrowly beating Greens candidate Samantha Ratnam. Despite this result, Hawraa felt encouraged by the close race and the swing in first preference votes toward Ms. Ratnam, seeing it as a sign that the Muslim community was becoming more engaged.
“We’ve learned a lot from this election, and it’s just the beginning of mobilizing the community, especially the Muslim community,” said Hawraa. She believes more people are advocating for a more dynamic and progressive crossbench to hold Labor accountable and push them to do better.
Advocacy group Muslim Votes Matter had targeted several federal seats across Australia during the campaign. Despite Labor’s decisive victory, group spokesperson Ghaith Krayem noted that a closer look at the results reveals a more complex story.
“When we examine the seats where we focused our efforts, a different picture emerges,” Krayem explained, highlighting swings away from Labor candidates in Wills and Calwell electorates in Victoria. He attributed these changes to the growing mobilization of the Muslim community.
In New South Wales, two electorates with large Muslim populations, Watson and Blaxland, saw the endorsement of independent candidates by Muslim Votes Matter and The Muslim Vote. In Watson, Ziad Bassyouny ran against Labor’s Tony Burke, and in Blaxland, Ahmed Ouf challenged Labor’s Jason Clare. Although neither independent candidate won, both secured significant first preference votes—19% for Ouf and nearly 17% for Bassyouny—marking a notable achievement, according to Krayem.
Zakariaa Wahid, CEO of the Islamic Council of Victoria, described these results as “mind-blowing.” “These candidates were not known before this election, yet they achieved impressive primary vote numbers,” Wahid said. He noted that this marked an unprecedented level of political engagement and awareness within the Muslim community.
One such engaged voter, Shiraz, a second-generation migrant in the Victorian electorate of Scullin, also voted differently for the first time, preferring the Greens and independent candidates over Labor. “We want the government to hear our voices and concerns, not take our votes for granted,” he said. His decision was largely influenced by the government’s handling of Palestinian issues, especially its stance on Gaza, which he felt was inadequate.
Hawraa, who hails from southern Lebanon, echoed these sentiments, saying her community also felt “completely neglected and ignored” by the government. She expressed frustration over Australia’s ongoing arms trade with Israel and pointed out that the Labor government had not adequately addressed rising Islamophobia or the concerns of the Muslim community, especially in light of the recent spate of antisemitic attacks compared to the limited government response to Islamophobic incidents.
Many in the Muslim community also wanted the government to remove “religiously motivated terrorism” from Australia’s terrorism laws, particularly after the charging of six teenagers in Sydney with terrorism-related offenses last year.
“The Gaza situation is the clearest example of how Labor has become increasingly disconnected from the Muslim voter base and how the community feels taken for granted,” Hawraa stated. “Labor’s failure to effectively respond to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, coupled with rising Islamophobia, will certainly influence Muslim voters in future elections.”
Rita Jabri Markwell, from the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network, concluded that while the impact of the Muslim vote was not as significant as it could have been, Labor candidates were still forced to fight hard to retain their seats. “This serves as a warning to parliamentarians: if they continue to ignore these voters, they may face even greater consequences in the next election,” she cautioned.
