Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to rise tonight in support of a motion that supports freedom of religion as a universal human right. Of course, it is a universal human right, one that is supported by Australia and one that we ought to support in other countries and seek to ensure is implemented in those countries. The subject of this motion tonight is the Coptic Egyptian community. The Coptic Egyptian community in Australia has made a great contribution to Australia since its arrival in the 1960s. We are very fortunate to have wonderful communities in Sydney in particular. I want to make mention of many of the contributions of the Sydney Coptic community to life in Sydney, in particular the St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox College, at Wattle Grove; the St Bishoy Coptic Orthodox College, at Mount Druitt; and all of the churches and dioceses in Sydney and Australia.

The Coptic Orthodox community in Australia is served by two Coptic Orthodox dioceses with over 50 parishes, two monasteries, two theological colleges and five schools. It is a very successful community. It is a community that is flourishing. It is a community that is law abiding and peaceful and has sought to make the most of the great opportunity that Australia represents—freedom, tolerance and our democratic way. It is estimated there are about 70,000 Copts in Australia.

This motion is so important because we ought to stand by all those communities who are being persecuted all around the world, all those minorities who face oppression and intolerance from either governments or other groups within their societies but particularly governments, because a government can be our best friend or it can be our worst enemy. When the state seeks to interfere in those things that it ought not to interfere in, particularly freedom of religion or the choices we may seek to make, it oversteps the mark in a way that produces intolerance, hatred and other forms of persecution. It is well documented that there are many examples in Egypt. The Coptic religion is an ancient religion which broke away from the traditional Roman Catholic Church but is now regarded as an Eastern Orthodox Church. However, in Egypt there have been many, many examples of persecution which involve death, serious mistreatment of families and some graphic examples which I will not relate today.

However, I do want to mention that in recent times there has been a substantial increase in the violence against Coptic Egyptians in Egypt, and the Coptic community has suffered greatly. There have been several notable examples that the Coptic Egyptian community has raised with me in person when they have seen me in my office in Sydney. These were the subject of some great rallies in Sydney in recent times. We saw many thousands of people rally in support of a number of people who have been persecuted by the Egyptian government, including a notable court case where two young Islamic men were acquitted of the murder of a Coptic Egyptian person who was horribly dismembered. These rallies were very important to show our support. They received support from the media, including broadcasters in Sydney such as Alan Jones, who particularly sought to highlight the role of the Egyptian Coptic community in Australia and the treatment they had received. It is particularly important that the motion:

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calls upon the Egyptian government to guarantee that Coptic Christians and members of other religious communities and minorities enjoy the full range of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Egypt has been regarded in the Middle East as a moderate voice of peace and good influence in many ways. However, it does have work to do in relation to its treatment of its Christian community. Often governments have to think about how they can protect minorities within their society from elements which seek to encourage persecution and harm. The member for Melbourne Ports clearly outlined that there is discrimination in Egypt at all levels, particularly from a governmental perspective. Equal rights under the law oblige a society to allow people to choose their own religion freely and to practise it. This motion is so worthy of our support because we are a free and tolerant democratic society that allows freedom of religion to our citizens. It is a great blessing that we do so in our country today and it is something that we should seek to promote and foster in Egypt. We particularly need to stand up for the Coptic Egyptian Christians in Egypt.

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