Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last year I stood in this place to condemn blatantly racist and hateful attacks carried out against two Asian restaurants, an Aboriginal healing centre and a Hindu temple in the suburbs of Boronia and Bayswater in my electorate of Aston. Those cowardly acts were not random. They were deliberate, targeted and driven by fear and hatred. I condemned them then, and I condemn them again today without hesitation.

It is therefore with deep anger and profound disappointment that I rise once more to speak about another attack, this time in the suburb of Rowville. On Wednesday last week I was made aware that Victoria Police were investigating the vandalism and theft of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi from the Australian Indian Community Centre in Rowville. Police have since warned scrap metal dealers to be aware of attempts to sell this stolen statue, a shameful detail that only deepens the hurt caused. This statue, donated by the Indian government to the Australian Indian Community Charitable Trust was the only one of its kind in Victoria. That statue was not merely a piece of metal. Ghandi was a man of peace and unity, and his statue at the community centre represented the strong cultural and bilateral ties between Australia and India. Its theft is an insult, not only to that community but to the values we claim to uphold as a nation. The statue had also been vandalised with anti-Gandhi and anti-Indian graffiti in 2023 and 2024. And now, in 2026, we find the statue stolen, cut off at the ankles no less.

I wish to express my utmost sorrow to Mr Vasan Srinivasan, chair of the Australian Indian Community Charitable Trust, which owns the centre. I also want to thank him for his leadership, dignity and steady resolve at a time of deep distress for him and his community. His response has shown strength where others sought to sew division.

There is no other way to put this. These actions are disgraceful, and they have absolutely no place in Aston or anywhere in Australia. I stand unequivocally with those affected. As their federal member, I say this without hesitation or qualification: our multicultural diversity is not a weakness to be feared. It is one of our greatest strengths. It is the foundation of our communities, the lifeblood of our democracy and a defining part of who we are as a nation. Together we will continue to stand united for dignity, for equality and for the shared values that bind us all as Australians.

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