Tuesday, 14 November 2023

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:06): Victoria’s diversity is what makes us great, and we have seen for decades now that people from every corner of the world have chosen Melbourne, have chosen Victoria, as their home because they know that here people can practise their faith and they can celebrate their culture in a community that welcomes and respects this diversity. As we have seen, the current events in the Middle East are distressing. They are especially distressing for people in our local communities and for families who have those strong personal connections to the region.

However, we cannot let violence in the Middle East lead to violence here on the streets in Melbourne. There is no place for violence, hatred or inciteful behaviour in Victoria, and it is absolutely unacceptable that faith communities feel unsafe in their own places of worship and in their own neighbourhoods. We also know that all communities have the right to come together to grieve and to provide support to one another. Everyone has the right to protest peacefully, but it is not at the expense of the safety of others. We are proud to be known for this. We are proud, but we must work incredibly hard to make sure this remains the case. What we saw last Friday in Caulfield – we witnessed incidents of unacceptable behaviour towards Melbourne’s Jewish community, and this must stop. There is no place for racism or intolerance here in Victoria. There is most certainly no place for antisemitism and there is no place for Islamophobia here in Victoria. We must continue to support every member of our multifaith communities, and safety and harmony must be our priority. We must not add to the existing hurt, pain and grief that are being experienced by many, and we will do everything that we can to support communities. We will also support police in protecting communities and protecting community safety.