Pauline Hanson has demanded Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke explain whether security advice was sought before federal grants were awarded to a Melbourne Islamic organisation named in accounts of the accused Flydubai hijacker’s time in Australia.
In a media release dated 12 October, the One Nation leader questioned the government’s grant screening procedures after reports that MyCentre’s umbrella organisation, Multicultural Youth Centre, received $68,136.20 for a community language school.
A separate $500 Australian Federal Police grant supported an iftar dinner in 2018, years before the alleged attempted hijacking.
The funding revelations follow statements by United Arab Emirates prosecutors that accused co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami developed extremist views while studying in Melbourne in 2017 and became acquainted with individuals associated with an organisation known as “My Centre”.
Those allegations remain part of an overseas investigation. They do not establish wrongdoing by the Australian organisation or its leadership.
There is no evidence in the material reviewed for this article that the grants funded extremist activity, that MyCentre was responsible for al-Hammami’s alleged radicalisation, or that its imam, Samir Mohtadi, known as Abu Hamza, knew about or participated in the alleged plot.
Hanson said in the supplied release,
“Tony Burke must answer whether he or his department sought security advice before signing off these grants and whether any other organisations linked to people under ASIO investigation have received taxpayer money under this program.”
She also alleged that the government was awarding grants without adequate checks. The release did not provide evidence establishing that the recipient organisation had promoted terrorism or misused public funds.
According to the Herald Sun, the language-school funding covered four years from 2024 and was awarded through the Department of Home Affairs. The newspaper reported that the grant details were publicly listed on GrantConnect.
The department describes its Community Language Schools Grants Program as supporting young Australians to learn or maintain languages other than English, preserve connections with their families and communities, and broaden employment opportunities. That stated purpose does not establish how any particular recipient spent its allocation.
The AFP payment was a separate grant for a separate purpose.
An AFP spokeswoman told the Herald Sun that the 2018 contribution partly funded a Ramadan iftar dinner. She said such events brought together representatives of different faiths, state police and the AFP as part of community liaison work.
That grant was awarded before the Albanese government took office in 2022. It should therefore be distinguished from the later funding criticised in Hanson’s release.
Burke said on Sunday that he did not have further information immediately available about the MyCentre grants and would seek details, according to the newspaper’s account of his television interview.
He also pointed to online radicalisation, saying authorities needed to examine material entering Australia through internet browsers as well as threats crossing its borders.
The political dispute comes as investigators examine the background of al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national accused of attempting to seize control of Flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September.
UAE prosecutors allege he intended to crash the aircraft into a passenger terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport. They said he admitted acting alone and provided a confession in the presence of his lawyer. These are prosecution allegations, rather than findings established at trial.
The captain, Smit Machchhar, was allegedly attacked with a cockpit crash axe. Passengers and crew intervened, and reserve pilots landed the aircraft in Saudi Arabia.
The Australian reported that the AFP was investigating possible Australian connections to the accused pilot. An investigation into those connections does not itself establish criminal involvement by anyone he encountered in Melbourne.
MyCentre’s website identifies Multicultural Youth Centre Ltd as its registered charitable entity and describes its work as providing education, youth support and community activities in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
Hanson’s release also claimed multicultural grant awards rose from less than $6 million in 2022–23 to more than $325 million in 2025–26, with 94 per cent going to Labor-held seats in the latter year. The underlying calculations were not included in the supplied release and have not been independently verified for this article.
The funding controversy leaves the government facing questions about its assessment procedures. Whether there were failures in those procedures requires evidence about the checks conducted and information available when the grants were approved.
Neither the reported funding nor the accused pilot’s alleged acquaintance with people associated with the centre establishes that taxpayer money supported terrorism.
Support our Journalism
No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.
