Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In a few weeks I will join His Excellency Bishop Tarabay, the newly ordained Maronite Bishop of Australia, and Minister Tony Burke to plant a small tree in the grounds of the Prime Minister's residence, the Lodge. The tree, a Cedar of Lebanon, a rare tree, will commemorate an important event in the Maronite community and will be a symbol of the strength of the Lebanese community that thrives on Australian soil.

I have a very strong and vibrant Maronite community in the electorate of Parramatta—great Australians, loyal and hardworking who have built their lives in this country, but who hold Lebanon in their hearts. They brought with them the close-knit loyal village culture of Lebanon. Here, sometimes after generations, we have people who identify with the villages Kfarsghab, Bann, Blouza, Zgharta and Bechara, and they all have their own community centres located around my electorate. But they all come together at Our Lady of Lebanon church in Harris Park, the centre of the cultural and religious life of the Maronite community in my electorate. Since coming together to build the church in 1970, they have accomplished so much, including the establishment of Our Lady of Lebanon College in 1973 which just celebrated its 40th birthday.

For the Maronite community, an incredibly important event is unfolding—no less than the ordination and installation of a new bishop for the Australian diocese of St Maroun, a new spiritual leader for all Maronite Catholics in Australia. Father Tarabay, now Bishop Tarabay, was ordained over the weekend on Saturday at the Patriarchal See in Lebanon. For the first time ever, the Australian government sent a representative to attend such an event. The Australian Prime Minister was represented at the ordination by the Hon. Tony Burke MP, a great friend to the Maronites in his electorate of Watson. Next week on Monday, 3 June, we will see the official installation ceremony of His Excellency Bishop Tarabay into his new home at St Maroun's Cathedral in Redfern, a little closer to home than the ordination ceremony and an event that many of us in this place would love to attend if parliament was not sitting on that day.

I would like to acknowledge and pay tribute to the outgoing bishop His Excellency Bishop Ad Abi Karam, who will officiate the installation, for his commitment and service to the Maronite community during his years as bishop. Bishop Ad Abi Karam placed education and culture at the heart of his ministry and he leaves the Maronite community stronger and more confident for this work.

Bishop Ad Abi Karam and Father Tarabay follow a long tradition in Australia. Way back in 1889 the Maronite patriarch in Lebanon decided to dispatch two priests, Father Abdallah Yazbeck and Father Joseph Dandah from Lebanon to Australia. They established a chapel in Waterloo in 1894 before establishing St Maroun's church in Redfern just a few years later. Some 70 years later, as the Maronite population grew and spread, chapels were established around Sydney, including Our Lady of Lebanon church in Harris Park, which services my community of Parramatta. It was at one of these new chapels, St Charbel's in Punchbowl, that Father Tarabay served before he was appointment as the new bishop to Australia.

Bishop Tarabay is only the fourth person to be appointed as the Maronite Bishop of Australia and is the first Maronite Bishop of Australia to rise from the ranks of the Australian clergy, and his appointment by Pope Frances is a testament to his long years of service within the Australian Maronite community.

When I learned that Minister Burke would attend the ordination in Lebanon, I suggested to him that it might be appropriate to commemorate such an important event with the planting of a Cedar of Lebanon in Australia to symbolise the Maronite faith growing tall and strong in Australian soil. I have already assisted in the planting of one Cedar of Lebanon in the grounds of Parliament House and I know what the symbol would mean to my local community. I am pleased to report that while in Lebanon, Minister Burke planted a eucalypt in the presidential palace to mark the ordination. He and the bishop will plant a Cedar of Lebanon in the grounds of the Prime Minister's residence at the Lodge.

The exchange of the two trees reflects the growing strength of the relationship between the two countries. The two countries of our Australian Lebanese community are forever bound by our people and the love for Lebanon that thrives within so many Australians of Lebanese background. The young tree will symbolise the growth and strength of the Maronite community, growing tall and proud in Australian soil like a Cedar of Lebanon.