SYDNEY: Australia’s first party representing Muslims intends to contest senate seats at the next federal election, BBC reported.

Launching the party in Sydney, founder Diaa Mohamed told reporters he wanted a louder voice for his community.

“There are a lot of parties out there to specifically oppose Islam and Muslims, yet Muslims don’t have any official representation,” he said.

“There are going to be a lot of questions raised in the coming days of the events recently, and this is the whole reason we created this party,” he said.

“So it is as good a time as any to launch it.”

The founder condemned the attacks in Paris and said Islam strictly forbade the killing of innocent people. He said his party would never support the invasion of a Muslim country in response to an incident such as the attacks in Paris.

“Let’s look at how well that’s worked in the past. We’ve invaded Afghanistan … we’ve invaded Iraq, and we’re in a mess right now,” he said. “So would I support something that’s never worked in the past? No.”