The selective silence: Why I was forced out of the Multicultural NSW board

Retired Navy captain Mona Shindy speaks out on her dismissal from Multicultural NSW

Captain Mona Shindy CSC is a retired Naval officer, keynote speaker, and strategic leadership consultant with over three decades of military and corporate experience. A 2015 National Telstra Business Woman of the Year and recipient of the Conspicuous Service Cross, she was Chief of Navy’s Strategic Advisor on Islamic Cultural Affairs — the first Muslim woman to hold the role. She holds degrees in Engineering, Commerce, and a Masters in Politics and Policy, and is the founder of the Mona Shindy Foundation, supporting young people from marginalised communities. Opinions expressed are those of the author alone.

There is a pattern playing out in Australian public life that we need to name plainly.

Pauline Hanson has publicly declared there are “no good Muslims” and continues to hold office, attract media platforms, and advocate for her party with impunity. Meanwhile, Antoinette Lattouf was pushed out of the ABC for reposting a Human Rights Watch report about the use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Randa Abdel-Fattah was removed from Adelaide Writers’ Week following external lobbying pressure. Grace Tame has had her Australian of the Year recognition publicly questioned.

And on 27 January 2026, I was told by Multicultural NSW that I had two choices: resign from the state’s Advisory Board on Multicultural Affairs, or never hold another government position again.

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The pattern is not hard to see. It is the selective silencing of women — particularly women of colour — for their political dissent, while others face little consequence for rhetoric that has, in documented cases, preceded real-world harm. This is not a debate about free speech. It is a question of whose speech is free.

I was appointed to the Multicultural NSW Advisory Board in late 2025. The Minister for Multiculturalism, Steve Kamper, approved the appointment. A public announcement was prepared — but days after the Bondi mass shooting, it was purposefully delayed.

I was called in to meet the Secretary of the Premier’s Department and the Deputy CEO of Multicultural NSW. Two LinkedIn reposts had been identified during what was described as “due diligence”. One discussed Israel’s Mossad agency; the other related to the Zionist influence and its impact on citizens of Gaza.

I asked them to consider my character and my intentions. After the attack, I laid flowers at the Pavilion — I was the third person there. I lit a candle at St Mary’s Cathedral for the Jewish victims and have consistently supported Jewish Australians in moments of grief and fear. I acknowledged that government roles require caution, so I deleted the reposts.

When a national register shared the documented rise in Islamophobia following the Bondi attack, I was told by the CEO of Multicultural NSW, Joseph La Posta, that this information was “tone-deaf” and inappropriate to promulgate given the national mood of the time. According to the reasoning applied to my case, racism and hate speech can only be addressed one minority at a time. They cannot, apparently, be named in the same breath.

A week later, the CEO called. He opened by saying he was calling “as a fan” – reminding me he had championed my appointment, that hundreds apply for such roles, that I had been tapped on the shoulder. Then, he told me a recommendation was being prepared to remove me. It would be “best,” he said, if I resigned quietly. My appointment had not yet been announced publicly. I asked who had complained and was told this was internal due diligence. With limited time provided by the Minister himself, I made a submission in good faith. I apologised for any unintentional harm. Like clockwork, he asked the NSW Governor to remove me.

I am a Muslim Australian woman and a veteran. I have spent three decades trying to build the kind of inclusive, cohesive society that bodies like Multicultural NSW claim to champion. I have been appointed Chief of Navy’s Strategic Advisor on Islamic Cultural Affairs — a role I took on in addition to my complex primary duties because the institution needed it. I contributed to structural reforms across the ADF. What I learned from my experience was that Multicultural NSW was an institution that could not weather pressure long enough to afford me the basic presumption of good faith it would extend to others.

That invisible cultural load — the added labour of proving you belong — exacts a real cost. Australia is already facing an unrelenting crisis in veteran mental health and suicide, and a lack of institutional focus is not abstract to those of us who have served. When female veterans are singled out and subjected to heightened scrutiny on top of everything else, the harm is compounded. It signals that our sacrifice was conditional, our belonging provisional, and our dignity expendable.

Dissent is not a threat to democracy. It is democracy. And when institutions start quietly removing the women who exercise it, it is not social cohesion being protected. It is the illusion of it.

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In response to questions from Deepcut, a spokesperson for Multicultural NSW said the following:

“The NSW Government has removed Captain Mona Shindy (Retd) from office as a part-time member of the Advisory Board of Multicultural NSW.

“Standard probity checks identified recent social media activity by Captain Shindy that raised concerns about her ability to meet Multicultural NSW’s statutory objectives and Code of Conduct requirements.

“Captain Shindy platformed misinformation and conspiracy theories on her social media. As such the NSW Government felt her ability to promote unity as part of the Multicultural Advisory Board was no longer tenable.

“Government officials discussed Captain Shindy sharing misinformation posts which contained conspiracy theories with her, and suggested she consider whether her actions were consistent with the expectations of the position.

“Several posts have since been deleted and it is not appropriate for Multicultural NSW to release or republish that content.”