The Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), which owns the mosque, submitted an application to the Canterbury-Bankstown Council to install four new loudspeakers on the minaret at an estimated cost of AUD 22,000. The project proposes to broadcast the Adhan every Friday at noon for up to 15 minutes.
Gamel Kheir, secretary of the LMA, condemned the debate for having moved beyond urban planning issues into targeted hostility. “We had to install additional surveillance cameras after receiving death threats”, he said, pointing to Islamophobic motives behind some objections.
Kheir also noted that many opponents live outside the Canterbury-Bankstown area and decried what he called unequal treatment: “No one objects to the bells of St Mary’s Cathedral or the Maronite Church in Punchbowl, but the call to prayer is seen as a threat”.
This tension compounds an already fraught environment marked by incidents of Islamophobia.
According to the official application, the Adhan broadcast is intended as a symbol of unity and shared faith, described as a “familiar and comforting” sound for local residents. Built in 1977, the Lakemba Mosque is one of the largest in Australia and a major center for Sydney’s Muslim community.
