Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to congratulate two communities in my electorate who have shown great leadership in promoting interfaith dialogue and social cohesion in our local community. I am speaking of the Islamic Community Milli Gorus of the Meadow Heights Mosque, and the new and emerging Chaldean Catholic community.

My most recent visit to the Meadow Heights Mosque was earlier this month at their annual open day. It is an event where members of the broader community are invited to engage with our local Islamic leaders and the mosque's community so that they can learn about the Islamic faith. I want to thank the President of the Islamic Community Milli Gorus Meadow Heights, Mr Hasan Guresen, and Mr Fatih Buyukyazici, president of the youth association, for their tireless efforts and for all the great work that they do in our community, which is all on a voluntary basis.

The mosque open day includes many art and craft stalls, food stalls, cultural activities and guided tours of the mosque. Visitors are invited to ask questions about the Koran, learn more about traditional dress, speak with youth group workers, see how Muslims pray, and feel pretty much part of and connected with the Islamic faith.

As well as this, the Meadow Heights Mosque also puts on its very popular iftar street dinners, which take place during the period of Ramadan. These events show the mosque's dedication to embracing the local community in a real and interactive way, encouraging understanding and fostering interfaith cooperation and social inclusiveness. Its leaders understand that the key to inclusive and social cohesion is to demystify any scepticism towards the Islamic faith. I want to commend them for these efforts.

I also want to commend the fantastic work done by the teachers, students and parents of Ilim College, a school founded by the Islamic community Milli Gorus. Today, it has an enrolment of over 1,500 students. It is a school with the highest of academic outcomes. The Milli Gorus, through its youth and education networks, works very hard to guide our local Muslim youth by providing positive role models and making sure they do not get sidetracked or enticed in the wrong direction.

The Meadow Heights Mosque has always led the way in interfaith dialogue in our local community. It has been a pioneer from its establishment, sharing a common area with our local Catholic church, the Holy Child Parish, in Meadow Heights. The sharing of space between these two places of worship is a first. Both mosque and church co-exist together in a spirit of sharing and goodwill. I am also proud of my broader community for their response to this arrangement. It was embraced from the onset, and it is a reminder that our differences should not divide us. Instead, they can, and should, bring us together.

I would now like to acknowledge the new and emerging Chaldean Catholic community in my electorate. This is a displaced Christian community from Iraq. Its people have come here as refugees under the humanitarian program. It is a highly educated community. In the relatively short time that they have been here, they have built the cathedral of Our Lady Guardian of Plants in Campbellfield and have recently acquired a new premise where they have founded St George's Chapel and Youth Centre in Cooper Street, Campbellfield.

On this past Sunday it was a great honour to have His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove attend mass at Our Lady Guardian of Plants cathedral. Both their excellencies expressed to me and members of the Chaldean Catholic community how much they enjoyed the service, especially the choir, and the community was in turn honoured beyond words that the Governor-General of Australia shared Advent mass marking the beginning of Christmas with them. The presence of our head of state at the Sunday mass was very special indeed.

During the service, parish priest Father Kamal expressed his gratitude to His Excellency and Lady Cosgrove, but more importantly he expressed his gratitude on behalf of the community for the opportunity Australia has given them to make a new home for themselves here, away from the horrors of war. He said that his community felt very privileged to live in Australia and that, indeed, it would work very hard to become good citizens. Father Kamal and Father Maher lead this community in an exemplary manner.

I am very proud to represent one of Australia's largest Islamic constituencies and, now, to also represent the largest Chaldean Christian constituency. I want to congratulate both communities for the leadership that they show and the hard work that they put in to fostering friendship and inclusiveness in the neighbourhoods of my electorate of Calwell.