Premier’s letter to SA Muslim community over Writers’ Week saga
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has responded to a letter of concern from the state’s Muslim community about the Writers’ Week controversy.
Premier Peter Malinauskas has responded to a letter of concern over Writers’ Week from Islamic Society of South Australia president Ahmed Zreika, having previously said he would “stand up [to] racism against” the community “as much as anybody else”.
In the letter, Malinauskas said that “my government rejects all racist or antisemitic behaviour, remarks or sentiment, including some of the remarks and behaviour attributed to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah”.
Sydney-born Palestinian writer Abdel-Fattah was removed from the Writers’ Week lineup after concern over her strident anti-Zionist views. Her removal led to a majority of authors withdrawing and the eventual cancellation of the 2026 festival.
In the letter published on social media, Malinauskas told the society he “made clear at every juncture that I would not seek to direct the board,” however, he said that “when asked by the board for my opinion, I made it clear that the State Government did not support the inclusion of Dr Abdel-Fattah on the Adelaide Writers’ Week program”.
His response followed Zreika raising concerns about a reported rise of Islamophobic incidents since the Bondi terrorist attack, the Premier saying he had referred this to SA Police “to ensure appropriate consideration and action is taken in relation to the safety concerns raised”.
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“I think people in the broader Islamic community in South Australia know that I stand up for racism against them as much as anybody else, and it’s that consistency that’s informed my judgements all the way through,” his letter said.
Malinauskas said that his comments about Abdel-Fattah “are in no way related to her Palestinian heritage or her strong opposition to the state of Israel”, but claimed that she “has publicly undermined the cultural safety of others, celebrated murder by terrorists of innocent civilians, and been involved in the doxxing of other artists and academics because of their faith or cultural background”.
He also addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that he has “publicly acknowledged and expressed my horror about the cataclysmic human toll in Gaza, noting that the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians should never be acceptable as a strategy in any armed conflict”.
“I have also stated that the ongoing destruction of their homeland is never acceptable,” he said.
Islamic Society of South Australia treasurer Dr Waleed Alkhazrajy said that the “letter is reflecting the role that the society plays” in representing the views of Muslims and “the interest in our community and the wider community about the news that broke about the withdrawal of the invitation for Dr Abdel-Fattah to participate in Writer’s Week”.
In relation to the government’s response to combat the rise of Islamophobia, Alkhazrajy said the government had enacted many measures, but that there is more work to be done.
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“We’ll work even more to get more initiatives from the state government and federal government to combat Islamophobia and reduce the rhetoric around any matters that alienate our community and finger-pointing,” he said.
In response to the conflict in Gaza, Alkhazrajy said it had “put a lot of sad faces on most of the community over what is happening there and feeling helpless towards the atrocities that have occurred over two years”.
“I’ve been to Gaza a couple of months ago, just before the signing of the current reduction in the operations there. It’s really difficult. It’s the most difficult place in the world to live in – that still continues,” he said.
“Some of the community breaks into tears whenever we talk about what’s happening there.”
In his letter, the premier also shared his opinion on the non-appearance of Jewish New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman from the Adelaide Writers’ Week, saying “in my assessment, that decision was an entirely reasonable one and I have publicly noted my support for this”.
“I believe a decision to remove one author because of racist commentary or hate speech should be applied consistently,” he wrote.
As reported previously in InDaily, the Adelaide Festival Board said Friedman did not attend Writers’ Week in 2024 due to “scheduling issues”.
However, it has been suggested he was removed from the lineup due to a controversial article in which he compared Iran and Middle Eastern militant groups to a parasitoid wasp and said, “we have no counterstrategy that safely and efficiently kills the wasp without setting fire to the whole jungle”.
Abdel-Fatah was one of 10 signatories to a letter advocating Friedman’s removal from Writers’ Week, saying they had “grave and urgent concern” about his inclusion.
Zreika, who is currently travelling overseas, was unable to be contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Premier declined to comment.
