"Islam is not up for reform," conference told
Australia's race discrimination commissioner has slammed a controversial Islamic group over its claims "de-radicalisation" amounts to forced assimilation. 
Hizb ut-Tahrir held a large conference at Bankstown in south-western Sydney on Sunday and told the more than 500 men, women and children who attended that Muslims were being demonised over their faith.
"Deradicalisation has come to mean making Muslims less Islamic, more Western, more secular, more submissive to secular, Liberal political ... norms," Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar said.
"It is nothing more than an agenda of forced assimilation justified by exaggerated fears of a security threat."
But Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane said this was "absurd".
"Hizb ut-Tahrir's views on citizenship are a rejection of our liberal democratic values and a denial of Australian multiculturalism," he said.
"They further confirm this group's extremist agenda."
Dr Soutphommasane said that when migrants became citizens, they chose to become a part of the Australian community.
"There's nothing oppressive about committing to our democracy, abiding by the law, and respecting the rights of others.
"Our multiculturalism means that everyone has a right to express their cultural heritage but also accepts the responsibilities of being an Australian citizen."
The federal government has reportedly abandoned plans under consideration by former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Federal Social Services Minister Christian Porter told Sky News earlier this week the Hizb ut-Tahrir comments were "unhelpful, divisive and fundamentally ill informed".
"The recruitment process of radical organisations is to put in the mind of the people they seek to recruit that there is widespread prejudice amongst Australians against Muslim Australians.
"That level of prejudice simply does not exist in Australia."