The Albanese government's slow progress on appointing an Envoy to Combat Islamophobia is causing frustration in the nation's Muslim community, adding to concerns that the position's creation may be a "reactionary" move to appeared balanced.
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ACM, publisher of this masthead, has confirmed a number of potential candidates have been discussed, but there is no indication of when a selection could be made.
Lebanese Muslim Association Secretary Gamel Kheir said the lag between the appointment of businesswoman Jillian Segal as Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism and that of her counterpart from the Muslim community was causing frustration.
"It's not a good look to the community you're trying to win over, given what's going on in Gaza," Mr Kheir told this masthead.
"You make them feel like they're second class citizens ... this seems to be taking longer than it should."
Security clearances and background checks are standard
More than two weeks have passed since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Ms Segal's appointment, at the same time revealing plans to make a similar appointment to address Islamophobia.
Security clearances and background checks are required for anyone to be appointed to the high-stakes role, which is intended to address challenges to social cohesion in Australia amid divergent views of the government's handling of the Middle East conflict.
"For any government role like this, there are checks and balances that have to be undertaken," a source close to the appointment process, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
![Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants to appoint the right person to the role. Picture by Elesa Kurtz Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants to appoint the right person to the role. Picture by Elesa Kurtz](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/234480217/5f4f9848-12e2-46b6-b2c2-805b1e2c6b81.jpg/r0_261_5113_3136_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The timing of Ms Segal's appointment was "fast-tracked" so she could represent Australia at an international conference on antisemitism, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters after appointing her on 9 July.
But Mr Kheir said if the government had begun its search for a Muslim candidate earlier, it could have made an appropriate joint announcement.
"The consultation hasn't been widespread, is my understanding," he said.
"It doesn't augur well. The community sees it as a reactionary process ... and, even more, the community feels that we don't even know what the role of the envoy is - nobody has explained exactly what is the envoy doing?"
The names that had crossed his desk were "not very well known in the community", Mr Kheir said.
Consultation picks up in recent weeks
On Thursday, he said the AFIC had since been consulted "on a range of issues to do with the envoy's position".
"I think the government has been trying to find someone who is acceptable to the whole community, so they've thrown the field quite open," he said.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles told reporters on Thursday the appointment of the special envoy would be "a critical step in combating Islamophobia."
"We as a government, I as the minister, are deeply concerned about the rise of Islamophobia," Mr Giles said.
"We are working our way towards making an appointment. An announcement will be made in due course."
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told ABC radio on Thursday, when asked about two people having knocked back the opportunity after being offered the role: "We are working with Muslim communities to ensure that an envoy against Islamophobia enjoys the support of the Islamic community in total and is able to do their work."
As for how long this would take, he said: "It'll take what it takes.
"We're not going to set somebody up to fail. We need to be making sure that we have a person who is in a position to do the job that we've asked them to do, and that is to be an envoy in combating Islamophobia ... We will continue to work with the Islamic community thoroughly until we get the person which is able to do that job."