In accordance with a practice adopted by other Western leaders, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has rebranded the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) by using an acronym greatly disliked by the militant organisation.
Mr Abbott began using the name 'Daesh' after emerging from talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi—the word is an acronym for the Arabic spelling of the self-adopted title, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.
French Foreign Minister Lauren Fabius recommended the use of Daesh before the media in late 2014, explaining that the name Islamic State makes it more difficult to fairly delineate between Islam, Muslims and Islamists. Mr Fabius was supported by the United States government, who started using the term shortly afterward.
At a news conference at the Pentagon in December 2014, Lieutenant General James Terry told reporters his reason for using Daesh instead of Islamic State:
"Daesh is a term that our partners in the Gulf use ... I would just say that our partners, at least the ones that I work with, ask us to use that because they feel that if you use ISIL you legitimise a self-declared caliphate."
According to reports, the Islamic State despises the acronym, and will remove the tongues of those they catch using it.
Mr Abbott's decision to use the acronym led to praise from the Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations. Kuranda Seyit, Director of the Forum, said to SBS News that "it's very important that we try and avoid associating Islam as a religion in general with these criminal acts or these terrorist acts".