Tuesday, 14 November 2023

Community safety

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (13:21): What occurred on Friday night outside a Caulfield South synagogue, at a time when members of the Jewish community and their families were gathering for prayer, was a disgrace. Never would I have thought that in Australia, let alone Melbourne, we would see such deliberate and instigated action at the level at which it was directed towards the Jewish community. Caulfield is in my electorate of Southern Metropolitan Region, but it is not just the Jewish community in Caulfield that has been affected, it is Jews in other areas of my electorate and indeed across the state and the nation that now, sadly, are concerned about their own safety. These sorts of actions must be condemned by all of us if we want our great country to be a place that is accepting, that thrives and where our freedoms are not threatened. Freedom to worship should not be subjected to the actions of those that deliberately threaten, intimidate and, as a result, cause heightened fear.

The Jewish community of Melbourne can be proud of what they have achieved in business, in academia and in serving our country at the highest levels of government and the military and for their generosity through philanthropy. There are just too many names of families and individuals, many of whom I know, to single out. To them all I say thank you. Thank you for your entrepreneurship, innovation, generosity, resilience, pride and dedication to our country, which you have contributed to in ways that at times go unnoticed and which we have all benefited from as a result.