“If you feel you have
missed out, or the way
society works isn’t in your
favour, you are going
to look for someone to
blame,” she explains.
“No Muslims in Aus-
tralia are calling for the
implementation of bur-
qas, but there is a genuine
paranoia that we are a
sleeper cell, waiting for
the moment when enough
of Australia has its back
turned to launch a stealth
takeover of this nation.”
Love Australia or Leave founder
Kim Vuga rejects labels like “right wing”
or “bigot”. “You can call me a patriot,”
she says. “I see us as more of a resistance
movement than a far-right movement.”
Townsville-based Vuga, 48, stood
as an independent in the last federal
election, winning less than 200 votes.
She claims she is more than simply
anti-Islam: “We have so many issues in
Australia. Farmers are struggling, we
have homeless on the street, our judi-
cial system is a mess.”
The ALA, which
had Dutch anti-immi-
gration politician Geert
Wilders as the keynote
speaker at its launch in
2015, claims to sit on a
similarly broad base of
disaffection. “There are
so many people in our
society who are not red-
necks, not bigots,” says president Deb-
bie Robinson. “I believe our media have
miscalculated what the average person
really believes and thinks about the
problems associated with Islam.”
Perth-based Robinson, who is in
her 50s, migrated to Australia as a child
and still has a hint of a Scottish accent.
In 2010, she joined anti-Islam group
the Q Society of Australia, the driving
force behind the ALA.
“I came to the realisation that once
we allow a little bit of Islamic law into
this country there will come a time
when women, no matter how strong
they think they are, will not be able to
stand up to it,” she says.
Dr Carland says she’s concerned
but not surprised by the ranks of youngwomen at right wing rallies, which
are often driven by claims that Islam
subjugates women. She admits sexism
exists within the Muslim community,
but claiming women need to be
protected from Islam is patronising
and condescending. Also, the impact of
this prejudice is typically borne by Mus-
lim women, she adds.
“We are the ones more likely to be
yelled at in the street or have our head
scarf ripped off,” explains Dr Carland.
“There are times I’m glad my 13-year-
old daughter hasn’t cho-
sen to wear the head
scarf, for her own safety.
That makes me sad as a
proud, Muslim woman.”
She says while many
Australians have become
more accepting of Islam,
there remains a strong
sense of unease. “Fifteen
years ago we would
not have seen the Reclaim Australia
rallies. I feel kind of despondent about
the future because it shows there are
areas in our community where there is
a lot of anger and fear.”
For Reclaim Aus-
tralia founder, Cathe-
rine Brennan (not her
real name), the fight
against Islam is per-
sonal. She planned
to take her children to
Sydney’s Lindt Choco-
late Café on the morn-
ing of December 15,
2014, but she delayed
the trip to visit a relative
in hospital. That same
morning, gunman ManHaron Monis took 18 people hostage
inside the Martin Place cafe.
I meet Brennan, 45, near her home
in Sydney’s south. She used to manage a
bridal boutique, but is now a stay-at-
home single mum to her 17-year-old
son and five-year-old daughter. She
declines to use her real name for fear of
people harming her children.
“This is my fight back,” she says.
“This is a way I can change that having
to happen to anyone else.”
It’s easy to spot the contradictions
in her way of thinking. She praises the
right to say and wear what you please,
but wants to ban the Koran and burqas.
She says she has good friends who are
Muslim (“about five all up”), but still
wants to stop Muslim immigration.
To explain these contradictions,
she tells me a story about chocolate.
“Suppose there are 100 M&M’s in
a bowl and two are laced with arsenic,
are you going to eat
that bowl of M&M’s?
“It’s like with the
refugees, 98 will be
beautiful but two will
not be. Are you willing
to risk your kids’ lives
on that?”
But isn’t that unfair
to those 98 delicious
M&M’s, I ask.
“Yep, that’s right,”
she says. “But I am
going to protect my
family first.”32 marieclaire.com.auWAYNE TAYLOR; GETTY IMAGES“I feel
despondent
about the future
because it shows
there is a lot of
fear and anger”^- Dr Susan Carland
FEAR FACTOR
Anti-refugee
protestors claim
the Australian
way of life is
under threat,
predominantly
due to Muslim
immigrants.Former
Australian
Muslim of
the Year, Dr
Susan Carland,
with husband
Waleed Aly.Pauline Hanson’s
political comeback
has emboldened
many women in
right-wing groups.Special report