Placing the continued hyper-securitisation of Islam and Muslims in Australia in global context

Following 9/11 the Howard government embarked on one of the most muscular legislative regimes in the West to combat terrorism. From late 2001 to 2007 no fewer than 48 pieces of anti-terror legislation were introduced that, despite being neutral in language, disproportionately target and securitise Muslims. In establishing this program, Howard likened the advent of terrorism as a “continuous threat” akin to that of the Cold War. As a result of this framing, combined with the fact that Australia had never experienced a major attack on home soil, terrorism became an abstract existential fear. Subsequently, we argue that successive governments have continued to introduce further legislation triggered by external terror events both near and far, despite the actual risk of a major terror event in Australia being low. Further, we contend that a second wave of securitisation across Europe sparked by the Charlie Hebdo attack in 2015 has developed into a global turn that has normalised the securitisation of Islam and Muslims.