A taxpayer-funded Facebook advertisement asked if terrorists have ‘legitimate grievances’.
The New South Wales government’s Multicultural NSW agency paid for a Facebook advertisement to promote a forum with a public service youth website.
‘Do violent extremists have legitimate grievances?,’ it asked.
‘What impact does 16 years of sustained negative media coverage about Islam have on young Australian Muslims?’
The minister responsible Ray Williams ordered the removal of that post after being alerted to it by Daily Mail Australia.
The Multicultural NSW, a government agency, asked if terrorists have ‘legitimate concerns’
Three people have died in a terrorist attack since 2014 (Lindt cafe siege in Sydney pictured)
The social media post had also suggested that poorer white people feel threatened by multiculturalism, with another leading question.
‘Why would a young, white working class man feel oppressed by Australia’s cultural diversity and want to assert his power?.’
The Facebook post was to promote a panel discussion on Islam.
The trouble is that panel held a discussion on July 20 – months before the questions were put to the public.
The Minister for Multiculturalism Ray Williams has ordered that controversial Facebook advertisement be taken down late on Wednesday afternoon.
‘I do not support this post by Multicultural NSW and have instructed the department to remove it immediately,’ the Liberal MP told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.
Multicultural NSW paid for a Facebook ad to promote an event that was held in July on Islam
Multicultural NSW copped criticism for suggesting there was ‘legitimate grievance’ behind violence
He wasn’t the only one who disapproved, with negative reaction on Facebook.
‘Legitimate reasons? Perhaps but the real question: is the action they take justified?,’ one man said.
A public servant at Multicultural NSW suggested legitimate grievance could be behind act of extremist violence even if ‘violence is never the answer’.
‘May we need to be looking at the reasons for the behaviour as sometimes it starts with a legitimate grievance a person may have had,’ the agency said on social media.
The minister’s department of Family and Community Services, which runs Multiculturalism NSW, had posted the Facebook advertisement to promote a forum with the online The Point Magazine, with ‘a panel of community-based experts’.
This Facebook post suggested the panel was one-sided and stifle people from commenting
The panel discussion was held on July 20 this year as part of the Community Partnership Action Alliance Summit held in western Sydney.
It included Auburn Islamic Cultural Centre project manager Asiya Rodrigo, anti-racism charity All Together Now executive director Priscilla Brice and Aftab Malik, an Islam expert with the UN Alliance of Civilisations.
One post on Multicultural NSW’s Facebook page suggested that panel was one-sided.
‘Besides that no one will comment because they will be labelled and bullied,’ he said.
Farhad Jabar was 15 when he killed accountant Curtis Cheng in Parramatta in October 2015
NSW has suffered from three terrorist-related deaths since 2014.
Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson and barrister Katrina Dawson died at the end of a 16-hour siege in Sydney at the hands of Iranian-born Man Monis in December 2014.
Less than a year later, in October 2015, 15-year-old gunman Farhad Jabar killed accountant Curtis Cheng outside police headquarters in Parramatta after reportedly visiting a mosque.
In April, two boys aged 15 and 16 were charged with allegedly stabbing Caltex service station worker Zeeshan Akbar at Queanbeyan, near Canberra, after reportedly being inspired by Islamic State.