Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for greater regulation of Islamic preachers in Australia in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack. His comments triggered an immediate backlash.
Many Muslim leaders and commentators heard the remarks as another episode in a long history of government suspicion toward Islam, or as a thinly veiled attempt to crack down on a religious community already under pressure.
That reaction is understandable. Public debates about Islam in Australia are often freighted with fear, moral panic and political opportunism.
