An Altona North Muslim man has been appointed to lead a state government advisory group to tackle economic and social factors that could lead to violent extremism.
Oussama Abou-Zeid, 20, will co-chair the Social Cohesion and Community Resilience Advisory Group, which also includes government ministers and representatives of the Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian faiths.
Mr Abou-Zeid, a former Victorian youth premier and Hobsons Bay young citizen of the year, said one of his aims was to empower and educate youth. He said it was beyond his comprehension why anyone would go overseas to join groups such as ISIS.
“It kills me inside knowing that I can’t do anything about people who have gone there – pardon my French, they’re just plain stupid, people who go overseas to fight.
“It infuriates me because they’ve killed more Muslims than any other race or religion, which doesn’t make sense because they’re considered the new Islamic caliphate, where they’re persecuting Muslims on a daily basis.
“It’s a joke. It’s gone beyond a joke.
“A lot of people who are going overseas are reverts, so these are people who have chosen Islam as their religion, but they get brainwashed. You couldn’t get any further away from Islam.”
Mr Abou-Zeid said education and dialogue between different community groups were the keys. “Our parents came to Australia fleeing persecution, fleeing war for a better life, and we must take full advantage of this opportunity to be brought up in such a beautiful country as Australia,” he said.
“We should be bringing in these boys, we should be teaching them, educating them, we should be allowing them to be involved in our everyday activities.”
Deputy Premier James Merlino will chair the group, which will advise the recently established ministerial taskforce on current issues and potential risks. The group includes state ministers for multicultural and youth affairs, education and police, and it will hold a series of meetings through the rest of the year.
Multicultural Affairs Minister Robin Scott said Victoria was faced with complex issues and it was essential that the community play a leading role in developing government policy.
