The Muslim community leader behind a political advocacy group preparing to be a disruptive force in the upcoming federal election has warned Labor not to take them for granted.
Speaking ahead of the launch of the Muslim Votes Matter (MVM) national campaign in Melbourne on Sunday, its national representative Ghaith Krayem said communities felt “disillusioned” and “disenfranchised” by the main parties over their handling of the conflict in Gaza.
“We have always assumed that our community will vote Labour and in this election we will show that will change,” Krayem said.
“The message is the same for both sides. We need to stop assuming that the community will vote in a certain way,” he said.
‘That’s why the Coalition doesn’t engage with our community because it feels we’ll always vote Labor, and Labor has taken us for granted because it assumes we’ll always vote Labor.’
He said he believed that “was going to change” in the yet-to-be-announced elections.
Sunday’s event will share insights from the July UK election, where five pro-Palestine independent candidates won seats held by members of the UK Labour Party, and a segment on the potential for a hung parliament.
While Krayem stresses that MVM is not a candidate-running organisation but rather a political education and promotion body, he hopes the group can mobilise up to 3,000 volunteers to campaign and staff polling stations on election day.
The leader of the Muslim community behind a political advocacy group preparing to be a disruptive force in the upcoming federal election has warned Labor not to take them for granted.
Today, that count has almost reached 1,000, with interest increasing exponentially after each community event.
“We believe this is the best time to increase the political mobilization of our community,” Krayem said.
“There are a lot of feelings of disenfranchisement and disillusionment with all aspects of politics, and we wouldn’t exist as a movement if that feeling didn’t exist.”
While the exact seats in which MVM believes it could flip the incumbent are being kept secret until Premier Anthony Albanese calls an election, calculations are being made in the background.
“As we get closer to the election, we will focus our campaign on a much more specific set of seats where we believe the number of Muslims, the mix of candidates and the issues will give us the best chance of making a difference on election day,” Krayem said.
Sky News investigative reporter Jonathan Lea will examine the rise of the Muslim Votes Matter group in a documentary called Clash of Religions: The Fight for Muslim Votes.
“It’s very, very difficult to describe the absolute outrage that this community is feeling and experiencing,” Lea told Sky News presenter Andrew Bolt.
“I’ve certainly never experienced anything like this sitting down and trying to understand people’s arguments and frustrations here.”
The full documentary will be broadcast next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
MVM has already identified 32 seats with high populations of voters who identify as Muslim.
These include electorates helped by high-profile ministers such as Education Minister Jason Clare’s south-west Sydney seat of Blaxland and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s neighbouring seat of Watson.
Ahead of the launch of Muslim Votes Matter’s (MVM) national campaign on Sunday in Melbourne, its national representative Ghaith Krayem (pictured) said communities felt “disillusioned” and “disenfranchised”.
Burke’s seat already faces a challenge from local doctor Ziad Basyouny, who is running on a platform advocating for his heavily immigrant community and greater Palestinian recognition.
He has not been endorsed by MVM, which says it will evaluate his credentials alongside those of other candidates once nominations close.
Until elections are held, MVM’s two priorities are awareness and education, and addressing voter apathy in the community.
“We know that there is a significant portion of our community that does not vote, and the second problem is informal voting,” he said.
‘(We want our community) to understand the importance of their participation, so that they are prepared for when the elections are called, to make sure that they participate and that their vote counts.’