Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The ABC religious program Compass recently gave the wider Australian electorate perhaps their first knowledge of the Mandeans. They are, of course, an ancient religious group from the Middle East, Mesopotamia, although they might have moved there from another place at an earlier time. They are regarded as the last Gnostics, people who essentially see knowledge as their main source of salvation. They put John the Baptist on a higher plane than Islam or Christianity in their pantheon of religious sources.

In 2003 there were estimated to be 60,000 to 70,000 of them essentially in Iraq and to some degree Iran. In the words of Nathaniel Deutsch in the 7 October 2007 New York Times article:

The United States did not set out to eradicate the Mandeans, one of the smallest, oldest and least understood of the many minorities in Iraq. This extinction in the making has simply been another unfortunate and entirely unintended consequence of the invasion of Iraq.

I am not for a moment saying that justification of Iraq intervention is either for or against it premised on that, but it is one of the outcomes. Although they were subject to persecution from time immemorial there is no doubt that the increased religious enmities within Iraq and the association perhaps of them as being more Western than other religious groups has led to particular problems for them, to the point where they face extinction.

It is worth noting that as of today, in contrast to that figure of 2003, there is regarded as being barely 7,000 of them still in Iraq and perhaps 5,000 to 10,000 in Iran. As with many minorities in Iran, you would not be certain of the figures because of the hostility of the religiously based theocratic regime to all minorities. Importantly, in the Western world, Australia is now regarded, after Sweden, as being their main homeland. It is estimated that 3,500 currently reside here.

It is worth stressing a point that I have perceived of them in dealing with them that came out of the Compass program. I will go back and say that my first dealings were going to exhibitions at Liverpool Museum of their silverwork, goldwork and also, as with the speaker after me, in being associated with them in regards to refugee cases. What came out of that Compass program is a really strong emphasis which we see with all diasporas in this country but I think is particularly strong with them, and that is the way in which they themselves put it in the Compass program. Whilst they very much wish to retain a very ancient religion and the particularities of it, they have a very strong sentiment of integration. Having been to their New Year events, it is quite amazing. Unless you listen to the music and the singing, you could very clearly be at a very Anglo-Australian festivity. Also, the way in which their children incorporate themselves in the government school system and very much the way in which large parts of the community strongly intimate the need for integration.

An unidentified refugee in an article in the Swedish publication Religion and Ethics News Weekly stated:

We would like to propagate our faith to the children, but we live here and would also like to integrate into society.

That is very much the slant of this group.

This resolution aims firstly, to emphasise the continuing particular crisis they face in Iraq. As I have said, it is fairly pronounced. One of the aspects that is very important is that they cannot relocate. Indisputably, every minority in Iraq faces grave difficulties, but in regards to the Mandeans their very small numbers make relocation internally extremely difficult, and at the same time their language, a form of Aramaic, and their beliefs are singular. If we are talking about diversity in the world, if we are talking about preserving historical aspects that matter to us, they have an enhanced case on those fronts.

They are subject to kidnapping, straight-out religious intolerance and murders. They are subject to kidnappings because of the perception of their income levels. They religiously are obliged not to carry weapons. They are pacifists, so there is no possibility of self-defence and so on.

Another point in regard to migration and refugee policy in this country is that if we have an intake that is totally driven by boats, planes and rather opinionated lawyers, it does not give the government of the day the possibility of making sure that this country does, indeed, protect very vulnerable minorities. You cannot basically have boats deciding what the intake will be. They will all come at one time from Afghanistan or at another time Sri Lanka and still have a policy which preserves the diversity of the intake and gives the government of the day, Labor or Liberal, the possibility of fashioning an intake around who is regarded by the United Nations as being particularly vulnerable. That is another reason that I am raising this resolution. Obviously there have been times when some Mandeans have entered by boat as well. There is no disputing that. But predominantly they have entered in the refugee humanitarian intake. I constantly have cases involving their community. Very few weeks go by without people coming to my office and to a lesser extent that of the member for Fowler, because their predominant location in Sydney is the Liverpool municipal area. Dr Mtashar and other groups are based there. They have had very strong historical support from the Liverpool Multicultural Centre, which has allowed them to develop an organisation, community building and so on.

I would like to quote an article by Murthard Ababistani in a University of Malaya paper. It states:

Mandeans have been living in Iraq and Iran for over two millennia. During these centuries they have been a small ethnic group surrounded by the non-Mandean people and under the threat of identity elimination. This situation inevitably made their group identity protection one of their main concerns.

It is further commented:

The concern for identity protection still persists among the Mandean diasporas. However, the new social environment opens up new opportunities that affect both the religious practice and identity politics of the Mandeans.

Furthermore:

In the homeland, 'the religious' and 'the social' were unified and inseparable. The constant threat of ethnocide and the priority of identity protection had confined the Mandeans within their petrified religious rituals as the main reference of their identity. Living in secular and multicultural society a secularisation trend in the sense of separation among the Mandean community of Australia is observable. The Mandeans follow their social interest such as group identity and integrity through their secular association and organisations.

What that writer said is clearly happening in this country at the moment. It came out in that Compass program and it has been evidenced in my dealings with the community. They are very much now about incorporating into this society, being involved in community organisations beyond their own community. Also Australia has in a sense affected to some degree religious practices. It was very interesting in that program to see the way in which the requirement that they baptise, which is central to their beliefs, is now being carried out for the first time in areas other than rivers. This is causing some angst in the community, but it is seen as a practical reaction of young people not being very attracted to what they regard as polluted rivers being the source.

I am pleased to have the opportunity here today to put forward the argument that this country should be vigilant about continued abuses to this minority in Iraq and other minorities as well, that our foreign affairs department should make sure it takes up these issues, that this should inform government policy in regards to the refugee humanitarian intake, that we should be mindful that here today—not yesterday, not last week, not six years ago—we see evidence of persecutions of minorities, and that when we do have consideration of what countries or groups do get priority that they remain important in the forefront of consideration by Australia.

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