Approaching P/CVE through building trust and meaningful relationships with Muslim communities

This paper examines the level of trust among Muslims in Australia towards the Government and its institutions. It places particular emphasis on the government’s approach to countering violent extremism programs and examines whether a lack of trust negatively impacts cooperation and engagement with the government and P/CVE programs. There is limited research exploring the issue of trust from the perspective of Muslims and how this impacts cooperation and engagement with the government. A survey of Australian Muslims (N= 505) that incorporated both quantitative and qualitative components was used. Inferential statistics (correlations) and thematic analysis were utilised to assess the data. Research suggests that trust is crucial to assisting in the success of P/CVE programs and counter-terrorism efforts. The findings show high levels of distrust towards the government and its institutions, which has flow-on effects, particularly in countering violent extremism. This strongly suggests that P/CVE programs should be approached from a trust-based and relationship-building perspective. Recommendations are made at the end of this paper on how to engage the Muslim community on the basis of building trust and meaningful relationships.