For years Muslim Community Radio has broadcast religious programs to listeners in Sydney, bringing news and daily talk-back shows in Arabic as well as making community announcements.
As the only Muslim community station on FM radio in Sydney, it can reach most of the city’s 300,000 Muslims, avoiding signal problems that plague most other community stations on low-powered AM transmission.
But behind the scenes there has been a long-running dispute over who should hold the station’s FM broadcasting licence, provided by the Australian Communications Media Authority (Acma).
The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) – the only central Islamic body that represents Australian-based Muslim clerics and Imams – claims Muslim Community Radio doesn’t represent the wider Islamic community.
Muslim Community Radio is backed by representatives of the minority religious group al-Ahbash – a fringe Sunni movement noted for its fervent criticism of more conservative Islamic groups such as the Salafis.
The Imams council is often the body delivering major community announcements, fielding calls from the media or making statements on political or religious issues. And the council believes its centrality makes it an ideal holder of the licence, which it has unsuccessfully tried to take over in the past.
It’s a dispute that dates back two decades, with the council consistently saying Muslim Community Radio could not possibly represent the Muslim community and its broad spectrum the way it believes the council can.
The dispute spilled into a Sydney court last week, when the Imams council accused Acma of showing a lack of “candour and trustworthiness” and mishandling its application for the radio licence.
The council said the licence was renewed without giving fair consideration to competing applicants.
Muslim Community Radio has previously denied the Imams council’s claims, saying the consistent support shown by the communication watchdog was evidence of the station’s competence.
In submissions made to the federal court, the Imams council’s barrister, Robert Angyal, said the body represented a “far broader spectrum of the Muslim community” in Sydney and that Muslim Community Radio was “dominated by a very narrow and exclusionary sect of Islam”.
“The applicant is Australia’s largest peak Muslim body and the sole national organisation of Australian Imams and Islamic scholars. And it represents the wider interests of the Australian Muslim community, as has been widely recognised by state and federal governments.”
Angyal said that a licence, when granted, could potentially go on “for ever” and that Acma was not considering any alternatives that may “do a better job” than the incumbent holder.
When pushed on why the Imams council couldn’t just apply for a separate licence, Angyal said it was irrelevant to the case at hand.
“And not relevant to whether my client was adversely affected by this decision to renew the licence.”
Matthew Lewis, Muslim Community Radio’s barrister, told the court that the Imams council’s case could be boiled down to the “wholly subjective” fact that it considers itself a competitor and an aggrieved party.
“The relevant question is how specifically is ANIC aggrieved?” Lewis said.
“There is simply no good evidence setting out precisely how ANIC has been aggrieved.”
Lewis argued Acma was aware of the connections between the radio station and Al-Ahbash, and that the authority’s decision to renew the licence was lawful.
“Acma was not persuaded that there was any evidence that the Muslim Community Radio posed any significant risk of the relevant kind, as identified.”
Judge Jayne Jagot adjourned the case on Wednesday afternoon and a decision is due in the coming months.
The Imams council and Muslim Community Radio declined to comment on the case when contacted by Guardian Australia.
