Australian Muslim Party launched in Sydney

'The Australian Muslim Party' was launched in Western Sydney on Tuesday as a measure to provide representation to Australian Muslims.

Diaa Mohamed, founder of the party, said that candidates would be fielded in every state before the next federal election, in which the party hopes to win a Senate seat.

"Four or five anti-Islamic parties are being created and we thought we need to do something to address that," said Mohamed, citing that rising political activism against Islam was one of the main reasons for forming the party.

To disprove ongoing criticism that "Muslims were not loud enough" when it comes to public debate, Mohamed hopes the party would help create a platform on the national political stage for the Muslim community to this end.

"Maybe it is because we didn't know how, or we were a bit too fragmented, so hopefully this will at least give us that opportunity," said Mohamed.

In view of recent events, "There are going to be a lot of questions raised in the coming days", said Mohamed. "This is the whole reason we created this party. So it is as good a time as any to launch it," he added.

Jamla Rifi, a prominent Sydney Muslim Community leader, said that it was time someone stepped up to share the burden of the Australian Muslim representation. According to him, notions of Muslims and Islam itself not being compatible with the Australian way of life, could be could be counteracted only with proper political representation.

"What is [better] than we actually putting our young boys and girls to represent us at the seat where decision making is taking place, that is, in the Parliament," Rifi said.