New blasphemy laws are coming to Australia on top of the ones that we already have, which I’ve covered in other videos.

And if you were naive enough to believe that Australia killing God was going to lead to an age of secular enlightenment in this country, then you’ve got another thing coming. Australia’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia has released a report with a series of recommendations which if accepted would mean nothing less than the end of free speech, even for our politicians. And would ensure that no one who questions the impact of Islam in Australia will ever be able to travel to Australia to become a politician or to be any kind of public figure, including, by the way, doing what I do. Because this report and its recommendations are nothing short of a gag order against criticism of Islam, plus the creation of a de facto Jizya tax. That’s a historical tax that Muslim majority countries used to force their non-Muslim residents to pay. Essentially, it was protection money and Australians will be paying it soon if our special envoy to combat Islamophobia gets his way.

Now, you might be thinking, Australia has a special envoy to combat Islamophobia. Indeed, we do.

It’s one of seven special envoys that we have right now and taxpayers are paying for. Including a special envoy to combat Islamophobia, another to combat antisemitism, one for social cohesion, another for the arts, which I’m not going to lie does seem a little odd given that the first three that I mentioned were all about stopping people from killing each other and then suddenly let’s have a special envoy for painting or something. And also, don’t we have an entire government department for the arts, including a minister for the arts? Wouldn’t the need for a special envoy, imply that perhaps the department isn’t doing its job very well? And perhaps the minister needs to be fired. But hey, it’s not their money. What do they care? Add a special envoy if you want. We have another special envoy for defense and veterans affairs, which again is odd because we have entire government departments for that purpose. And the existence of a special envoy is surely an insult to the departments and ministers. We have another special envoy for the Great Barrier Reef. Now, I’m not sure exactly what sort of diplomatic work is being done there, like negotiating compensation for the turtles when they get a straw stuck in their noses or something, but as I’ve covered previously, the Great Barrier Reef is enjoying spectacularly high coral cover at the moment. So, I guess that envoy must be working. And finally, we have a special envoy for disaster recovery.

What is a special envoy, you ask? Well, the best way to think of it is like it’s a hammer in search of a nail. The number one job of any government department or government worker or special envoy is to perpetuate their own existence. And a special envoy is supposed to be a temporary thing. But as Milton Friedman used to say, there is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program. And whilst the position of this special envoy may prove to be temporary, you can be sure that if he gets his way, he’s going to reshape Australia, including our politics and our human rights, in ways which are very much permanent.

It won’t surprise you to learn that our special envoy to combat Islamophobia has found plenty of nails, indeed. After all, if he didn’t, he’d be a hammer quickly out of a job. And in his newly released report, which claims to be a strategic framework for inclusion, inclusion, safety, and prosperity, he hits all of his nails on the head. And in the meantime, he hits all of us, recommending violations of human rights, violations of equality before the law, and the introduction of nothing less than blasphemy laws in Australia.

Now, we’ll get to the details in a moment, but first, my name is Topher Field. This is the Topher project and I help busy people like you to keep up with the world as it changes around you. I am 100% viewer supported. So if you appreciate what I do and the fact that I keep doing it while I still can before the law stops me, then please buy me a copy via the button at topherfield.net. And if you like my videos, then you will love my books. Books about government, power, human rights, and the role of civil disobedience in the modern age. You’ll find both my bestselling books, plus my DVDs and t-shirts and hoodies, all available at goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com. And everything you buy, will help me to keep the Topher project going and keep bringing you important stories like this one.

Let’s dive into this report and see exactly what it is that we’re being hit over the head with. First things first, I had to laugh when I saw that even the special envoy to combat Islamophobia has to genulect to our government’s new paganism and start their report with an acknowledgement of country. But even there, Muslims are now made front and center. And in fact, it is claimed that Muslim prayers have been woven into Yolngu people’s spirituality, songs, and rituals. Now, imagine anyone else making such a claim. Hm.

It goes on to say, “The enduring and reciprocal yet often overlooked relationship between Muslim and Aboriginal communities deserves recognition.

This shared history of material, social, and spiritual exchange echoes in the present, creating space for enduring respect, generosity, and openness.” You see what’s happening here? Special envoy Aftab Malik is essentially seeking to piggyback Islam onto the back of Australia’s state-sponsored religion and assert a “we were here first” kind of logic by their association with Indigenous culture.

Now he’s not wrong in the sense that historically speaking such trade and intermarriage did happen. But the same was also true of Chinese explorers and traders who visited regularly along with many other cultural and religious influences from other countries and other island groups. And none of that changes the fact that it was the English from Europe who colonized this country and brought this nation out of subsistence living into being one of the most advanced and prosperous nations on earth.

But the special envoy to combat Islamophobia has staked his claim right here in the opening in the acknowledgement of country. And make no mistake, in my opinion, this document and its recommendations is a claim. It is supposed to flip our history, our body politic, and our law on its head, making Islam and respect for, or at least a lack of criticism of Islam front and center, a prerequisite for public or business life.

The report admits right off the bat that there is no universally accepted definition of Islamophobia. It goes on to say the term is contested and debated as Islamophobia takes different forms in different national contexts. However, broadly speaking, it is a perceived fear of and threat from Islam and Muslims. And in that context, this report from the special envoy to combat Islamophobia is only going to confirm the worst fears of many: that accommodating Islam is indeed a threat to our liberties, to our human rights, and to our wallets.

Now, I’m not asking you to believe me when I say that. I just want you to hear it from this report directly. It starts out pretty mild, full of the usual victim language that we’ve come to expect and with the same sorts of solutions that we’ve seen before. In recommendation three, we have full-blown affirmative action for the public service with special attention in section 3.a towards efforts to improve retention and leadership pathways for minorities and diverse communities.

Keep in mind that the public service in Australia already has an over-representation of minorities compared to the wider community that these public servants serve. So there is no real problem to be solved here. But advocating specifically for affirmative action for leadership roles is a recipe for disaster. Because by definition, they’re no longer focused on promoting the best person for the job, but rather the person who satisfies nebulous diversity objectives, which is a guaranteed fast track for even more mediocrity in our public service. But really, that’s nothing new or dramatic. And the public service are already mostly so mediocre that it’s likely we would never even notice the difference.

Hm. Moving on. Recommendation four is review our counterterrorism laws, policies, and practices to investigate potential discriminatory application and effect. And specifically, this review should investigate the potential discriminatory application and effect on Muslim Australian communities.

Question. Do you really want a federal police officer to have some discrimination watchdog hampering a terrorism investigation? Personally, I have this crazy idea that police should follow the evidence wherever it leads. And if you take an honest look around the world, you’ll quickly discover that when it comes to acts of violent terror against the general public, Islam does tend to come up quite a lot. Now, let me be clear. There are lots of acts of terrorism that are not motivated by Islamic beliefs. Muslims by no means have a monopoly on the use of political violence. We’ve seen that all too clearly recently. But the simple fact is that police and investigators should follow the evidence and no discrimination considerations should ever come into it as long as they are following the evidence. So a recommendation like this has the potential to negatively affect our counterterrorism agencies. No biggie. Moving on.

In section 5, he wants a commission of inquiry into Islamophobia with very loaded terms of reference that in typical fashion presume the outcome and skew the inquiry to turn it into a kangaroo court instead. This inquiry is supposed to investigate the extent and drivers of Islamophobia, the role of media reporting, documentaries, film, social media, and political discourse in contributing to rising hostility towards Muslims. Notice how the rising hostility is presumed, as is the media having something to do with that alleged rising hostility. The thing with an inquiry is that it has to work and report within its terms of reference. Section 5c ensures that the inquiry cannot find anything other than rising hostility towards Muslims due to the media. It’s a stitch-up. But it gets a lot worse.

Section 5i tells the inquiry to investigate, quote, reasons for the under-reporting of Islamophobia to police specifically and authorities generally, end quote. Again, it’s assumed that it’s happening and the inquiry will therefore not be allowed to find anything differently. Section 5m, how cultural and religious biases combined to produce employment barriers for Muslim applicants. Again, it’s assumed into this inquiry that such barriers exist. They’re allowed to investigate only how they work. There’s a classic maxim for lawyers when they’re cross-examining a witness on the stand. Never ask a question to which you do not already know the answer. And the equivalent in politics is never hold an inquiry unless you’ve already determined the outcome. And the way they determine the outcome is through the terms of reference, as we’ve just witnessed. But believe it or not, we are still only just scratching the surface.

Section 8 calls for taxpayer-funded security for Islamic centers, schools, and mosques. The first of many de facto jizya or taxes or tribute payments that this report seeks to impose upon non-Muslims for the benefit of Muslims. Section 11 demands even more money to provide grants that specifically aim to combat Islamophobia and strengthen social cohesion. Among the subheadings of section 11, you’ll find out that they want this money to fund media monitoring. That would include the monitoring of people like me, by the way. Arts, cultural festivals, and activities, documentary production grants to highlight the lived experiences, histories, and contributions of Muslim Australians, as well as stories highlighting positive intergroup contact, journeys out of prejudice and Islamophobia, and of coming together to combat prejudice. They literally want taxpayers to fund their propaganda.

Section 11i, social media initiatives that counter Islamophobic narratives and promote inclusive online communities. That’s censorship, by the way. He’s calling for online censorship of each and every one of us. Section 11j, digital storytelling projects that empower Muslim voices. Again, they want your money to tell their story. And there’s a bunch more in section 11 as well, but we need to move on.

Section 15 mandates compulsory religious sensitivity training for all Australian Federal Police officers specifically for the Muslim religion though, because the objectives aren’t general to all religions. No, no, no. Each of the three subpoints mentions Islamophobia specifically. So this isn’t general religious sensitivity training. This is Islamic sensitivity training.

Section 16: review existing provisions in the Migration Act regarding character grounds to make clear the minister’s ability to refuse visas for visitors promoting hate speech, including those with a history of promoting Islamophobic hatred. Yep. They literally want to ensure that people who say hurty words about Muslims can’t come into Australia. And of course, again, we have this idea of hate speech, which so often is just a dog whistle for “speech I don’t agree with, but I don’t have a good counterargument for.”

Now, if you think all of this sounds pretty grim, we’re still not done yet. The worst is still yet to come. The report dedicates three entire pages to recommendations just for our education system. And just like we saw with the way the special envoy to combat Islamophobia put Muslim history front and center within Indigenous Australia, he wants to do the same thing in our school curriculum.

There’s three pages of recommendations, so I can’t read them all, but here’s a taste. Section 31: review the national curriculum pertaining to Islam, Muslims, and Muslim history in both primary and secondary education to ensure content is accurate and to make conclusions of and acknowledge Muslim contributions to Australia, to Western civilization, and the development of universal values. More specifically, integrate into school history subjects Islamic history or Islamic West or Islam-West cross-cultural encounters and exchanges including Muslim contributions to Australia; and B: integrate into school ethics, civics subjects, the contribution of Islam to ethics in general and universal human ethics in particular.

Pretty soon our kids in school are going to be taught Indigenous history and Muslim history.

And the only time Western history or European history will even be acknowledged is as a pejorative term something to be ashamed of. But still, there’s more. Recommendations 48 and 49 call for business funding for Muslims to create positive representation and visibility, among other things. Section 52 demands more power for our online safety laws otherwise yet again known as censorship as if the e Safety Office isn’t already completely out of control. And Section 54, the pièce de resistance, has subsection 1: develop codes of conduct for all Australian parliamentarians and staff on what constitutes Islamophobia and implement mandatory training programs on Islamophobia for all parliamentarians and their advisers.

It doesn’t stop there. Under 54a2, it says, “Introduce clear contingencies for responses to parliamentarians who engage in hate speech or behavior. These contingencies may include setting up guidelines whereby leading political parties respond to such incidents by publicly affirming at the next opportunity their commitment to inclusive values, speech and behavior and rejection of Islamophobia. Such incidents where relevant to deliver formal reprimands and temporary suspension from the party room or various party granted roles.” These are blasphemy laws for our media, for the public, and for our politicians.

The special envoy to combat Islamophobia is a hammer looking for a nail. And he’s found a lot of nails. But the irony is in the process he’s provided us with the clearest possible example of why some people are afraid of Muslim influence in Australia. To go right back to the section in this report on defining Islamophobia, it says broadly speaking, it is a perceived fear of and threat from Islam and Muslims. This report and its recommendations are a threat. They are a threat being delivered by a Muslim in the name of Islam to the rest of Australian society. These recommendations are a threat to free and fearless debate in our parliament, in our media, and amongst ourselves. They’re a threat to the impartial and evidence-based operation of our counterterrorism police and intelligence communities. They are a threat to our children’s education, which is already stripped of most of its positive portrayal of European history, upon which our society, our politics, our prosperity, and our freedom are built and based. And it’s a threat to our bank balances, demanding time and again that taxpayers fund everything from pro-Muslim propaganda to pro-business to pro-censorship to pro-education.

Now, I don’t have a problem with Muslims being in Australia. I’m a libertarian. I’ve been very clear about the fact that freedom of belief is a fundamental human right and not one that I want to see violated for any reason. But this report is not about freedom of religion. This is about special treatment for one group of people because of their religion. This report is the very definition of religious discrimination. Treating people differently based on which god they believe in. And all the special envoy to combat Islamophobia has proved with this report is that there is in fact something to fear from Islam.

The answer here is to reject the very concept of group rights and to focus on and enforce only individual rights. If we all have equal individual rights, then most of these problems simply disappear and the ones that remain can be dealt with through the equal unbiased application of the law which is based on our equal rights. When you allow groups to negotiate for special rights or special treatment or to have special rules apply to them or funding, you invite division and indeed you invite hatred. Different groups automatically are pitted against each other and the government thrives off the conflict that they create.

But two can play that game. They want to talk about hate speech and hate crimes and stoke division for their own political gain. Okay. Well, if we’re so worried about hate speech, then I would say that Australia’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia and his national response to Islamophobia, a strategic framework for inclusion, safety, and prosperity this whole report with all of its division, its prejudice, its religious discrimination, and its human rights violations this report is a hate crime filled with hate speech. And if the government wants to prove that it’s serious about stamping out hate, then it can start by abolishing all of the special envoys who only represent one group or portion of Australians.

My name’s Topher Field. This is the Topher project, and this is what I do. No nonsense, no political correctness. I call a spade a spade and I cut through the crap to help you make sense of the nonsense that surrounds us. Now, if you appreciate my work, then please help me to keep the Topher project going by buying me a coffee via the button at topherfield.net. And if you like my videos, then you’ll love my books about government power, human rights, and civil disobedience. You’ll find them along with my DVD, my t-shirts, and my hoodies at goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com.

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