In a new bid to prevent the opening of a Muslim school in the area, the New South Wales government is seeking to put its hand on a Muslim-owned land, tearing down a two-year dream of having a new school to serve 1200 Australian Muslim pupils.
“I did deliberated long and hard on this decision,” Education Minister Verity Firth told ABC on Friday, July 17.
Firth issued a decision to buy back a plot of land owned by Al Amanah College, arguing the land would be used to build a special school for children with disabilities.
The minister threatened that steps would be taken to compulsorily acquire the land if no deal was reached.
“I knew it would be a controversial decision and I also knew how it could be interpreted.”
Al Amanah College had bought the land to build a school to serve 1200 Muslim students.
But the school plans were deadlocked over rejection of the Bankstown City councilors to build the Islamic school.
But light appeared at the end of the tunnel after the Land and Environment Court approved the school plans for the second time, ending a two-year legal fight.
But the minister’s new decision came to stumble again the plans to build the Islamic school.
Media reports link the decision to a letter sent by the Bankstown council to the Education Minister, asking the government to acquire the plot, either by agreement or compulsorily.
“This decision was made following advice from the Department of Education and Training that a special school was required in the area and that this was the most appropriate site,” Firth’s spokeswoman told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“It is unrelated to the building of an Islamic school on the site.”
Disappointing
Muslim school officials are disappointed at the minister’s decision to buy back the land.
“At the moment I have more than 200 enrolments for next year.. already enrolled in this school,” Mohamed El Dana, principal of the college, told ABC.
“The parents, the community, it’s all supporting this project and where am I going to go with these students?”
Instead of preparing for constructing the school, Muslim leaders are now readying for a new legal battle with the government.
“To know that there is a school that has gone through two lots of hurdles to now want to exercise compulsory land powers,” Ikebal Patel, the president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, told the Herald.
“It’s very disappointing.”
Muslims, who have been in Australia for more than 200 years, make up 1.5 percent of its 20-million population.
Islam is the country’s second largest religion after Christianity.
In post 9/11 Australia, Muslims have been haunted with suspicion and have had their patriotism questioned.
A 2007 poll taken by the Issues Deliberation Australia (IDA) think-tank found that Australians basically see Islam as a threat to the Australian way of life.
In 2008, a governmental report revealed that Muslims are facing deep-seated Islamophobia and race-based treatment like never before.
–Agencies