Melbourne mosque grants face review after alleged Flydubai hijack link
The Australian government faces scrutiny after it emerged that a Melbourne mosque visited by the man accused of attempting to hijack a Flydubai flight received almost $70,000 in taxpayer-funded community grants. Hamam al-Hammami, who allegedly tried to crash an Israel-bound passenger jet on 30 September, told investigators he became radicalised whilst studying in Melbourne in 2017 and made contact with individuals at the MyCentre mosque in Broadmeadows. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has demanded an urgent review of how community grants are distributed, calling it a "shocking revelation" that taxpayer funds could further terrorist activities.
The MyCentre mosque received $36,960 in 2024 and $31,176 in 2025 under the Community Language Schools Grants Program administered by the Department of Home Affairs. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he didn't directly manage that part of the program but pledged to apply principles that deny "oxygen to people who want to do us harm". According to UAE investigators, al-Hammami was influenced by Takfiri ideology through extremist literature and online content during his Melbourne years, eventually developing plans for an aircraft-based attack.
- Melbourne mosque linked to Flydubai hijacker received $70,000 in government grants.
- One Nation demands urgent review of federal community grant distribution processes.
- Home Affairs Minister questioned over funding to organisation linked to radicalisation.
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A man accused of attempting to hijack a Flydubai passenger aircraft on 30 September reportedly became radicalised whilst studying in Melbourne from 2017. Hamam al-Hammami allegedly made contact with individuals at the MyCentre mosque in Broadmeadows during this period, where he was influenced by extremist ideology and eventually developed plans for an aircraft attack.
The MyCentre mosque received approximately $70,000 in government grants across 2024 and 2025 through the Community Language Schools Grants Program, administered by the Department of Home Affairs. The allocation of public funds to an organisation now connected to the accused hijacker has raised questions about how such community grants are assessed and monitored.
The case highlights the challenge governments face in ensuring that public funding supports legitimate community integration whilst preventing inadvertent support for extremism. It has prompted scrutiny of current vetting procedures and whether they are sufficiently robust to identify organisations where radicalisation might occur.
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The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The government has a legitimate duty to ensure taxpayer funds reach appropriate recipients and are not inadvertently channelled to environments where radicalisation occurs. When a major security incident demonstrates that someone became radicalised whilst connected to a publicly-funded organisation, reviewing the grants administration process—including vetting criteria and oversight mechanisms—represents responsible governance. Such scrutiny need not defund worthwhile community work but could strengthen procedures to balance community integration with security-conscious grant management.
The case against
Conditioning grant reviews on a single attendee's alleged extremism risks unjustly targeting Muslim community organisations and treating them as guilty by association. Investigators attribute the accused's radicalisation to extremist literature and online content, not to the mosque's teachings, and community language schools serve thousands of law-abiding citizens. Restricting funding because one person allegedly committed a crime conflates correlation with causation and risks discriminatory outcomes that could undermine social cohesion and integration.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Taxpayer cash for mosque linked to accused Flydubai hijacker sparks fury as Pauline Hanson demands urgent grant review”.