Australian literature has long been ‘hijacked by activists’. This has made it richer. Let’s not go backwards

‘The earliest iteration of the multicultural NSW award … was a visionary response to the field’s lack of diversity and a shift towards the hope of moving past it.’ Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

Last week the State Library of New South Wales announced the shortlists of the 2024 Premier’s Literary awards. The announcement came with arguably a little less fanfare than usual. Even the promotional shot of the shortlisted titles seemed to sag with reticence: this announcement, scheduled for April but delivered in May, was marred by a broader campaign targeting the Muslim Palestinian Egyptian Australian academic and multi-award-winning author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah as an unfit judge of the multicultural NSW category.

In the weeks leading up to the announcement, the Liberal senator Dave Sharma called on the premier to replace Abdel-Fattah as chair of the judging panel, arguing that the multicultural NSW award had been “hijacked by activists and provocateurs”.