Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of the Newport Islamic Society and the community in Hobsons Bay in the construction of the new Australian Islamic Centre in my electorate. I have visited the Australian Islamic Centre repeatedly during its construction. When completed, the building will be a landmark for Melbourne's west—something that our whole community can be proud of. The mosque's design is a product of 10 years of work by Glenn Murcutt AO, perhaps Australia's most celebrated architect, in collaboration with Melbourne architect Hakan Elevli of Elevli Plus. The construction of the project has been driven for many years by financial and in-kind contributions by members of the community, led by Haddara Designs & Constructions. The mosque is the subject of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria entitled Glenn Murcutt: Architecture of Faith.

The building is designed to be open to the community, using open space, windows and water to invite the community into the building. As the NGV has noted:

The building, its roof studded with multi-coloured glass lanterns and without the traditional minaret or dome, challenges assumptions of historical Islamic architecture and puts forward a new architectural language for Australian Islam.

While respecting the fundamental principles and requirements of Islamic architecture, Murcutt and Elevli have pushed beyond the symbolic language of the traditional mosque, reimagining its geometry, colours, materiality and spatial organisation to create an accessible and contemporary place of worship, learning and community.

When you walk through the mosque, you feel that you are in an Australian building. There are reflective pools that are open to the community and open to the outdoors to bring in air to cool the building during the summer, and it relies on natural light to illuminate the area. The building has 96 hand-painted gold lanterns on the roof, each with a different coloured glass inset, that are facing different directions. As the sun passes over the roof of the mosque during the day, different colours and different shades of light illuminate the prayer room below. In the morning, yellow streams, representing paradise, illuminate the area. In the middle of the day, there are blues, symbolising the sky, and greens, symbolising nature. In the afternoon, red lanterns, indicating blood for strength, illuminate the area.

The design is intended to symbolise the mosque's philosophy of open arms to all members of our Australian society. As a centre for prayer, learning and community activities, the mosque's design is dominated by two soaring wings to each edge of the entrance. The symbolism of these two open arms is very clear. The mosque sits comfortably next to the Altona Miniature Railway, a very popular family destination in Melbourne's west, and their inclusive interaction with each other will certainly promote understanding and inclusion in our area.

The site was opened for tours as part of Open House Melbourne this year, and it attracted substantial community interest. As Elevli explained, in the design:

We want to create something that's inclusive—something that's going to be transparent.

As a result, the mosque includes a community centre, a library, a cafe and a restaurant, all designed to encourage the broader public to interact with the site. Elevli says:

That's what we want to reinforce, that people are always welcome.

I want to congratulate the Imam Abdullah for his leadership throughout the project, and I want to particularly acknowledge that the centre's builder, Mohammed Haddara of Haddara Constructions, for his extraordinary dedication to the project. This has not been an easy project for the builder to manage. It comes as the tip of a pyramid of 10 years' fundraising by the local community and 20 years' identifying a site significantly larger than the existing site on Mason Street in Newport. So the pressure on Mohammed through this process to deliver—and to deliver a construction that fully realises Glenn Murcott's design—has been extraordinary. I certainly feel for him every time that I visit the site.

In a time when we hear a lot of nonsense about Islam—and nonsense about the Australian Islamic community in particular—the Australian Islamic Centre is a model for Australia. We in Melbourne's west understand the benefits of multiculturalism because we live it. There have been no protests and no nonsense from the community in response to this mosque, and it has been supported by all levels of government: our local council; our state government members, including Wade Noonan, the state member; and me, the federal member. Moreover, it has been supported by the broader community. The community has watched this project rise and watched the hard work of members of our community trying to build this landmark facility in Melbourne's west. I know that I express the views of all of my constituents when I say to the Islamic Centre and the Newport Islamic Society that we anticipate with great joy the opening of this centre.