49% of Australians don't want us here
I'm facing my fear and I guess I'm expecting the 49% to face their fear and
maybe come have that cup of coffee
Or try the shisha, it's sweet
And she's got a smoking idea to put an end to it for good
It's like sitting at the pub having a beer with your mates
Are you trying to get me high? Is that's what's going on here?
High with knowledge, high with knowledge
It's not wacky in tobacky in there is there
No no, there's nothing in there
Okay, give me a whirl
By night Betul and her best mate are transforming an old caravan into a shisha cafe on wheels
They're gearing up to travel around the country with it, parking in random streets, opening their doors to all Australians who might fear Muslims
A lot of people are curious, a lot of people do want to know
They probably don't have the opportunity to be able to just causally sit down and not feel dumb when asking the question
I think that's really important
I will always start the convo with 'this is a safe place, I am someone you can ask questions to, if I don't know the answers I find the answers'
Regardless, I don't get offended
And I'm happy to have that discussion
A recent poll tells us that almost half of Australians want to put a ban on Muslim immigration, how does that make you feel?
It's sad, it's very sad, it's disappointing
The 49% judged or voted in accordance with what they've seen
I guess I'm assuming they're not very educated around the religion
If they were, I don't think the results would have come out that way
We are in danger of being swamped by Muslims
Pauline Hanson says Muslims bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with Australians
Does that bother you? Do you think about that when you go out to the local supermarket?
You start thinking where do I belong? Where is my identity?
I'm born and raised in Australia, I'm an Aussie, where do I belong?
I is my community, it's sad that we've come to this point and I think about who voted for her
And I probably grew up with most of them and that's more disappointing
I take that back to myself as well and I ask myself
How good of a friend or neighbour or schoolmate have I been for them to question the religion so easily
It does hurt and I guess I had to make a decision with that hurt and that feeling and that disappointment
What do I do about it? Do I just sit down and cry or get angry about it?
Or do I actively try and change this? Obviously there's a lot of work that needs to be done, but I'm actively trying to fight it
Betul, what do you have to say to people who don't want you here?
Unless you're the original the custodian of the land you're standing on you don't really have that say
What do you mean by that?
I believe the owners of the land are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people
And unless there is an Aboriginal or Indigenous person telling me to go back then I'm not going anywhere
What would you like to say to Pauline? Essentially, she doesn't think you should be here
I think a lot of people in Australia don't think she should be here as well
It's sad that she has a group I guess that is following her or do take her serious
I think she needs to come hang out with us maybe and have a shisha
It's not halal, it's pretty probably not halal actually so I reckon she'd be alright to give it a go
How are you going to successfully change the minds of more than half of Australians who believe that Muslims shouldn't be here?
You know at my house right now, I will have more non-Muslim white Aussies over smoking shisha than from the Turkish community or the Muslim communities
And at the end of the conversation I'll usually get 'wow, I never knew that about your religion'
'Wow, that's an interesting one' 'Do I shake hands?' that's the most common one
'Do you take the scarf off in the shower?' that's an interesting one
Do those questions offend you?
No and that's good it's being asked and as soon as I make a joke about it
You see the colour changing in their skin and they're a lot more comfortable
Like look, you've still got your head on
You're calling your little venture Hijack'd, interesting choice of name
Two reasons
Maybe not the best or most inviting title for a -
The obvious
Title for a mobile shisha cafe
You know, a lot of people said to us that sounds very negative
And I was like you know what, sometimes you've got to see the humour in negativity as well
I don't see it as negative, we thought it was funny
Like hey, come have coffee with someone in a van called Hijack'd
There are days when we feel this isn't fair
My religinon has been hijacked, it's been hijacked
I guess we want to reclaim what was ours, what is ours, rightfully