On Saturday, the council held its first conference on Islamophobia, with politicians, police, religious leaders and academics among those in attendance at the event in Melbourne.
In a report released to coincide with the conference, it estimated more than 85% of Islamophobia incidents were not reported.
Islamophobia incidents that were not directly reported by a victim – but could include occurrences of anti-Muslim racism such as online “hate comments”, emails sent to Muslim organisations, “hostile phone calls” and other material including “dehumanising media commentary” – had also increased, the council said.
The council said many Muslims did not report Islamophobia because they feared not being taken seriously and had a distrust of police and government bodies.
