WHAT WAS CLAIMED
The Australian government is spending millions of dollars building more than 30 mosques in Victoria
OUR VERDICT
False. Neither the federal or state government are funding the construction of more than 30 mosques.
AAP FACTCHECK - Australian taxpayers are not funding the construction of more than 30 mosques in Victoria to the tune of millions of dollars, despite a claim on social media.
The claim is made in a February 9 post first published on X.
The post repurposes a February 8 Instagram video in which a man criticises a genuine Victorian government project for open days at 31 mosques.
The X post pairs this video with an incorrect caption that falsely suggests the man is referring to a multi-million-dollar taxpayer-funded mosque construction project.
"The Australian government are spending millions of dollars on building over 30 mosques just in the one state of Victoria alone. Churches aren't considered multicultural," the caption reads.
The post uses one of two Instagram videos published by an Australian social media user about the Victorian government's use of $400,000 for mosque open days.
"The $400,000 is for their mosques to put on open days," he says in the first video.
In the second video, he adds: "Thirty-one locations, 31 mosques across Victoria," in relation to the open days.
The caption of the second video reads: "The Government just gave the Islamic Council in Victoria $400,000.00 so that 31 Mosques can hold an open day and invite the public to celebrate prayer, touring the Mosques, study of Islam and Henna body tattooing."
However, the X post uses only a section of the second video that refers to the number of mosques and falsely claims this relates to a taxpayer-funded construction project.
As the user in the video points out, the $400,000 is from the Victorian government. Announced on February 5, the money is to support open days at mosques in collaboration with the Islamic Council of Victoria.
The man also makes reference to two grant schemes in his video, which he suggests are for synagogues or mosques.
He cites a $5 million program, which he says is for "multicultural grassroots development".
Announced in January, the $5 million Multicultural Capacity Building Program (MCBP) is specifically for "grassroots multicultural groups", according to the state government.
The funding guidelines do not suggest the funds are for any specific group or religion.
Only that the applicant groups must be a multicultural organisation, which is defined as "an organisation that is owned and managed by an ethnic, language, or cultural community that has common needs, customs, and traditions" and exists to "support people from the ethnic, language or cultural group or several related ethnic groups" (page 6).
The state government has listed several "new and emerging communities" whose applications it says will be prioritised.
The list includes communities from Ukraine, Ethiopia, Iraq, Palestine, Rwanda and Papua New Guinea.
The man also cites a $2.5 million program for "infrastructure, upgrades and repair to mosques and synagogues".
The government has set up a Multicultural Infrastructure and Security Program (MISP), which a press release states will provide $5 million in grants of up to $400,000.
The MISP program guidelines cite a $2.5 million (page 2) figure and say it will be available to multicultural or multifaith organisations (page 6).
It defines the latter as a "faith-based organisation that is owned and managed by a specific faith community and has common religious beliefs, practices, and values" (page 25).
The state government has a Multifaith Advisory Group, which comprises 27 religious leaders from Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish and Bahá'í communities
The government states the money is intended for maintenance, upgrades and security (page 9).
As with the MCBP, the state government has said priority will be given to communities that come under the new and emerging communities list (page 5).
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