‘Pauline doesn’t like us’: rising Islamophobia has left young Muslim Australians feeling fearful and alienated

A series of shocking incidents and rising anti-Muslim rhetoric – including from One Nation’s Pauline Hanson – has sharpened concerns for the Islamic community

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Behind the counter of his family’s kebab shop in Brisbane’s south, Burak was lathering garlic sauce on a customer’s falafel wrap when they began talking about Pauline Hanson.

Burak, a 17-year-old school student, had never heard of Hanson – one of Australia’s most polarising political figures, who entered federal parliament almost three decades ago in 1996.