Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with many other members in recognising the death of Pope Shenouda III, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and also the daughter churches in Ethiopia and Eritrea and the estimated two to four million Copts around the world, including the 100,000 in Australia. My own electorate and the nearby Macarthur electorate have the parishes of Long Point, Campbelltown and Liverpool.

My father had a saying that people who never make any decisions never make any mistakes. That was perhaps applicable of Pope Shenouda. He has been criticised at various stages for perhaps being too close to the Egyptian authorities, in the case of Mubarak particularly—and welcoming his son as a possible presidential candidate—and for trying to make sure that the Copts were not involved in the early demonstrations in Tahrir Square et cetera. He has also been criticised by diasporas of Copts around the world because he did not support foreign intervention in the affairs of Egypt in support of the Christian minority. I always think on these matters that it is very easy for various ethnic diasporas in Australia to be very radical about events in their homeland when the people who get the bullets in the head are actually there rather than here in Australia.

He has been criticised on occasion for his role but one must say that it is a very difficult situation when Christians are discriminated against by Article II, which says that there is pre-eminence for Islamic law; where there have been restrictions on the construction of their churches; and where there have on occasions been state connected attacks on them and the police and other authorities have not been protective of them. He had to tread a very difficult road. We are talking about a minority of approximately 10 per cent—estimates vary from eight to 12 million. He also very strongly supported the rights of the Palestinian people, refusing to accompany Sadat to Jerusalem.

I met him on one occasion, during his visit to Australia. The point made about him by previous speakers is that he was a very practical person who could be persuaded by arguments. He was lobbied about a church that was being blocked in Guildford, in the Parramatta municipality. He was worded up by the local Copts about how dreadful it was with the discrimination against them. I was able to persuade him that when a council votes 20-0—Liberals, Independents and Labor—against the application there might be something wrong with the development application. He actually appreciated that argument.

During the visit in 2002 he separated the new Diocese of Sydney and consecrated Bishop Daniel to undertake that. I will repeat part of the quote of Barack Obama given by the previous speaker by saying that he was 'an advocate for unity and reconciliation'. That reiterates the point made by the Reverend Olav Fykse Tveit of the World Council of Churches, who said:

He was a strong believer in Christian-Muslim co-existence.

We in Australia appreciate the very strong presence of the Coptic community. They have essentially come here on two main grounds: refugee-humanitarian, which is a recognition of their suppression and continuing struggles in Egypt; and there is a very high proportion of skilled migrants. That is a characteristic of many communities that are suppressed, whether it is Tamils, the Palestinians or a variety of other groups. They see education and professional careers as their only way out of these kinds of conditions.

We, of course, mourn with the communities, recognising his historic role from 1971. In that period, he spent three years in isolation when Sadat stripped him of his powers of leadership of his community. He was also very critical of the trend in Egypt, where Sadat in particular decided to defeat the left and the unions and the progressive liberals; he had actually appealed to the fundamentalists. That created part of the problem in Egypt, with the government relying on fundamentalists to suppress the political left.

I want to join with the very strong community in this country, predominantly in Sydney—about seven-tenths of them; it is a community contributing very strongly to our country in regard to many of our professions—in recognising his historic role and the symbol he has been for significant numbers of people outside Egypt as well as those within.

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