Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, would like to commend the member for Berowra for moving this motion, and the member for Macnamara for seconding it, calling for this remembrance to be acknowledged here in the parliament. It was one of the most atrocious periods in history, and we must learn from the past. Commemorating and ensuring that we recognise 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, is so important, especially in today's political climate. It's just as important today as it was at the end of World War II. When we look around the world we see the rise of right-wing extremism taking place in many parts of the world—the rise of anti-Semitism, racism and hate speech—and we don't have to look too far. Just look at what took place on 6 January in the US. It's a reminder that days like International Holocaust Remembrance Day are more important than ever.

Last year, it was my pleasure to speak in this place about the official opening of the Adelaide Holocaust Museum and Andrew Steiner Education Centre in my own electorate. I couldn't attend, because we were sitting here in the parliament, as it fell on a sitting week, but I felt compelled to talk about the important new institution in the electorate. I've also heard of many others around the country. I'd like to again commend Andrew Steiner and the entire South Australian Jewish community and its supporters for working so hard to make this dream a reality. The museum will serve as a reminder of the atrocities of the Nazi regime. It will remind people that we have a role to play in ensuring that it never happens again.

Today I'm also reminded of the history of the Jewish population in my parent's homeland, in Greece. Before World War II, the city of Salonika had the largest Jewish community in Greece, with over 50,000 people. It was one of the biggest communities. They lived in harmony, side by side, with different religions and different communities. At the time of the German occupation—within a week of that occupation—the Germans arrested the Jewish leadership and evicted hundreds of Jewish families from their homes. Over 45,000 were deported from Salonica to Auschwitz. Most never returned—the majority did not return. Some of the survivors ended up here in Australia, like my good friend Philip Dalidakis, who was a minister in the Victorian government. He is a descendant of those people and still has a close tie to Salonica. We've visited Greece together on a number of occasions. I remind people in this place that those events during World War II were just one example of the many atrocities that took place around Europe at the time and of the suffering that occurred.

I also want to remind people about the rise to prominence of Neo-Nazi parties across the world. In Greece there was a party called Golden Dawn—it was nothing other than a Nazi party. Their leader said that the Holocaust was nothing but a conspiracy theory, yet these people, in the economic crisis that took place in 2010, found fertile ground for the rise in popularity of that particular party. In the election in 2009, they had fewer than 20,000 votes across the country; the following election, they picked up seven per cent of the vote and 18 members of parliament. This is a Neo-Nazi party in the centre of Europe, in a country that felt the full atrocities of the Nazis between 1939 and 1945. It shows how easily, if we let this go, these right-wing movements can take place. I'm very pleased that the courts of Athens found them to be a criminal organisation not that long ago and disbanded them, but the worrying thing is that they have a branch here in Australia, which is still operating. I've asked the Attorney-General to have a look at it.

But, if parties like Golden Dawn can make such inroads—as I said—in a country that suffered under Nazism, it reminds us that anti-Semitism and racial and religious hatred should not be tolerated and that we must call them out and stamp them out immediately.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (11:17): The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

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