The Muslim community leader behind a political lobby group set to disrupt the next federal election has warned Labor not to take them for granted.
Speaking ahead of Muslim Votes Matter (MVM)’s national campaign launch in Melbourne on Sunday, National Representative Ghaith Krayem said communities felt “disillusioned” and “disenfranchised” by the major parties over the handling of the Gaza conflict.
“You have always assumed that our community would vote Labour and we will show in this election that that will change,” Krayem said.
“The message is the same on both sides. You have to stop assuming that the community is going to vote a certain way,” he said.
‘That’s why the Coalition doesn’t engage with our community, because they feel we’ll always vote Labor. And Labor takes us for granted, because they assume we’ll always vote Labor.’
He said he believed this would “change” during the yet-to-be-announced elections.
Sunday’s event will discuss the positions taken in the UK election in July, in which five independent pro-Palestinian candidates won seats held by members of the British Labour Party, and the possibility of a parliament with an uncoordinated majority.
While Mr Krayem stresses that MVM does not represent candidates but is a political advocacy and education body, he expects the group to mobilise some 3,000 volunteers to campaign and man polling booths on election day.
The Muslim community leader behind a political advocacy group that is preparing to be a disruptive force at the next federal election has warned Labor not to take them for granted
Currently the count is almost 1000 and interest grows exponentially after each community event.
“We believe this is the best time to increase the political mobilization of our community,” Mr. Krayem said.
‘There are many feelings of disenfranchisement and disillusionment on all sides of politics. If those feelings were not there, we would not exist as a movement.’
While the exact seats where MVM thinks it can win over the incumbent president are being kept secret until Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls the elections, calculations are being made in the background.
“As the election approaches, we will focus our campaign on a much more specific number of seats. We believe that the number of Muslims, the candidate mix and the issues will give us the best chance to effect change on election day,” Mr Krayem said.
Sky News Investigations reporter Jonathan Lea investigates the rise of the ‘Muslim Votes Matter’ group in a documentary called ‘Clash of Faiths: The Fight for Muslim Votes’.
“It’s very, very difficult to describe the enormous outrage that this community feels and experiences,” Lea told Sky News presenter Andrew Bolt.
‘I’ve never experienced anything like this before, when I sat here and tried to understand people’s arguments and frustrations.’
The full documentary will be broadcast next Tuesday at 7:30 PM.
MVM has already identified 32 seats with a large population of voters who identify as Muslim.
These include electorates served by senior ministers, such as Education Minister Jason Clare’s seat of Blaxland in Sydney’s south-west and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s seat of Watson, which is next door.
Ahead of the Muslim Votes Matter (MVM) national campaign launch in Melbourne on Sunday, National Representative Ghaith Krayem (pictured) said communities were left feeling ‘disillusioned’ and ‘disenfranchised’
Burke’s seat is already under threat from local doctor Ziad Basyouny, who is campaigning on a platform of standing up for his migrant-heavy community and for greater recognition of Palestinians.
He has no support from MVM, which says it will review his qualifications along with other candidates once the nomination period closes.
Until elections are called, MVM’s two priorities are awareness and education, and addressing voter apathy in the community.
“We know that a significant portion of our community does not vote, and the second problem is informal voting,” he said.
“(We want our community) to understand how important their participation is, so that they are ready for the elections, so that they actually participate and make sure that their vote counts.”