Hanson ‘undermining social cohesion’, Albanese says, as Labor responds to Islamophobia envoy’s report | Australian politics

Anthony Albanese has accused Pauline Hanson of “undermining social cohesion” after his Islamophobia envoy warned the One Nation leader’s words could have violent consequences.

The government formally responded on Saturday to the 54 recommendations made by the special envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, in his report handed down 10 months ago.

However, the prime minister rejected calls from Malik to give religious groups stronger legal protection and review counter-terror laws for discriminatory effects against Muslims.

The government’s response warned Islamophobia was threatening Australia’s national unity as well as threatening the Muslim community, referencing the 2019 shooting of 51 Muslim worshippers by an Australian man in New Zealand.

“It has found new life in those who seek to blame all Muslims for acts of terrorism that are an offence against their faith,” the report reads.

“The inescapable lesson of the atrocity at Christchurch, the mass murder of Muslims by an Australian gunman, is that what begins with hateful ideas can end in unimaginable violence.”

Malik echoed the warning, when asked in Sydney on Saturday about Hanson’s claims in an April podcast that Islam was “based on terrorism”.

“These damaging, dehumanising words, not only do they isolate and marginalise Muslims, it lends itself to threatening behaviour, harm, … and ultimately, we’ve seen Christchurch,” Malik said.

Albanese did not comment specifically on Hanson’s remarks when invited to by Malik but said the One Nation leader “has been undermining social cohesion for 30 years”.

“Prejudice is something that isn’t normal, isn’t intrinsic to human endeavour, but something that is taught, and political leaders have a responsibility to promote social cohesion in this country,” he said.

Albanese also responded to Hanson’s remarks lamenting the end of the White Australia policy of discriminatory immigration, in a podcast with far-right UK activist Tommy Robinson.

“The movement away from the White Australia Policy wasn’t just the Labor government of Gough Whitlam,” Albanese said. “It was actually a bipartisan position. That began in the 1960s, and that was a good thing.”

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, condemned the remarks on Saturday. “I never thought when I entered parliament that in my political lifetime anyone who’d been elected to parliament would be calling for White Australia.”

“I thought we were in a country where everybody just accepted that we had moved on and we were better because we’d moved on. Part of saying you love Australia is to love Australia for who we are, not some perverted concept of a country where we would turn on each other.”

Hanson did not call for the reintroduction of the White Australia policy on the podcast and denied supporting it in a social media video posted on Saturday.

“Never ever have I advocated that, and I don’t believe in it as well,” Hanson said.

Albanese said Islamophobic incidents had risen and he hoped the government’s response to Malik’s report would support Australia’s social cohesion. He said some of Malik’s recommendations would be adopted while others would be subject to “further consideration”.

After Burke on Monday rejected Malik’s push to reduce the role of religion in Australia’s definition of terrorism, Albanese said his government had taken national security agencies’ advice on terror laws.

“It’s independent advice,” he said. “What we don’t do is we don’t contract out government. Decisions are made by our cabinet.”

The federal government’s response will include a new federal police social cohesion team to help improve reporting and responses to Islamophobia, and new funding for community organisations. Training for MPs, the public service and police, and a new taskforce to help education agencies tackle Islamophobia, will also be introduced.

The government’s response did not endorse Malik’s call for a government inquiry into anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, mentioning Palestinians just once.

The Alliance of Australian Muslims and the Australian National Imams Council welcomed the government’s response as an “unprecedented and important step in the right direction” in a joint statement.

“While this response is welcome, much more remains to be done,” they said.

The peak community organisations applauded Malik’s efforts and said they would work with him to progress the recommendations the government had not responded to.

In announcing the government’s response, the prime minister also took aim at Malcolm Roberts, after the One Nation senator for Queensland faced a week of headlines over his endorsement of claims promoted by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

“This is a guy who’s been elected and re-elected and endorsed and re-endorsed multiple times by Pauline Hanson and One Nation, and his views are not worthy of being a senator, but he’s elected,” Albanese said.

“This is the risk that people take when they vote for people who are on the fringes of politics.”

Hanson and Roberts were contacted for comment.