Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before we left here on the last Thursday of the previous two-week sitting period, I had the honour of speaking in the main chamber about the need for tolerance towards others within our diverse multicultural community. There is no better illustration than the Turkish community within my electorate. I have heard this criticism about lack of assimilation many times. You would be hard-pressed to find a better example of assimilation than this community. One hundred years ago next year, we celebrate the original Gallipoli battle in 1915, and here is the biggest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere, named the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque. I hear a lot of criticism of what is being preached in mosques. On the Saturday following the Thursday, members of the community asked me to speak at their Eid day to 6,000 people. They asked me to specifically talk about the importance of faith, tolerance, cohesion and leadership. It was my honour to do that. They are an amazing community.

The sad part was that, less than a week later, there was an attack on that mosque. That is un-Australian and it is what we are dealing with in Western Sydney right now. I applaud our Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, because he went there under his own steam the following week and made representation to say how sorry he was to hear of the attack. I applaud the leadership of the mosque, the president, Dr Abdurrahman Asaroglu, and all the imams there for allowing me to be part of that community and speak at Eid. They are just such a wonderful community and long may they continue to serve the area of Reid.