Parody post falsely shared as Australian Labor Party's support for Islamic law code

"So sharia law is now acceptable in this country. This alone should get @AustralianLabor out," reads a screenshot posted on Facebook on April 3, 2025, referring to the Islamic legal system that governs the lives of many Muslims worldwide (archived link).

It shares a screenshot of an X post by an account purporting to be Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, which includes an image of a man in Islamic attire and the caption: "I am proud to see young Australian girls visiting a mosque to learn about sharia law. This is the inclusive Australia we're building."

"Broadcasted proudly on our government-funded media, SBS," it continues.

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Screenshot of false post, taken April 24, 2025

In the final stretch of the tightly contested May 3 elections, support for the Albanese government appears to be rebounding against staunchly conservative rival Peter Dutton, despite an earlier dip in the polls (archived link). 

Similar posts on social media also shared the claim, triggering a wave of anti-Muslim comments from users who believed it showed a real post from the Australian premier.

"You have to be kidding, we do not want this Sharia Law in this Christian country!!!" one user said.

"Over my rotting carcass will my daughter enter a mosque," another commented.

But the claim is false. 

While sharia law is increasingly being practiced in secular countries, Australia -- where about 3.2 percent of the population identifies as Muslim -- has not adopted the system within its judiciary (archived links here and here).

Parody account

The screenshot in the posts does not show a genuine statement from Albanese, as previously debunked by Australian media organisation AAP Fact Check (archived link).

Keyword searches on X found it was shared on March 31 by a self-described Albanese parody account on X that uses the handle @AlboIsPM.

The post includes a video of an imam asking students, "If a person is following sharia, following the law of Islam, can he coincide with people from different faiths?"

"The answer is very obvious. Have we been living with people from different faiths for the last 1,400 years? Yes."

The account makes clear it is unaffiliated with Albanese or the Australian government. It has previously misled users with a fabricated flyer falsely claiming the ruling government planned to fund gender-affirming procedures under the country's public health insurance scheme.

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Meanwhile, reverse-image searches found the clip shared by the parody account comes from the Australian public broadcaster SBS's documentary "The Mosque Next Door" (archived link).

The video features a Brisbane-based imam talking to a group of students visiting a mosque, breaking down misconceptions about sharia law.

He explains that while Australian Muslims follow sharia for moral and religious guidance, they are still bound by Australian law.

"A part of Islamic Sharia is that if you go to a foreign land that is basically not a Muslim land, you abide by the laws as long as they don't force you to give up your faith," the imam says in the video. 

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Screenshot comparison of the clip shared by the parody account (left) and the documentary by SBS (right)

As of April 25, 2025, Labor’s election platform does not include any endorsement of sharia law (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked a similar claim about Labor's supposed support of sharia law.