Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to acknowledge the important work of the Manningham Interfaith Network. In a time when there are those who seek to divide us and who say that people of different races and religions cannot live peacefully together, Manningham Interfaith Network's commitment to building social cohesion and understanding across barriers has never been more important.

I popped along to their community barbecue on Sunday in Ruffey Lake Park. We had Frank Smit from the Manningham Uniting Church manning the barbecue. We had volunteers from the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple in Box Hill giving out sausages to community members and families at the nearby playground. We also had members of the Baha'i community, who are very active in the interfaith network because the Baha'i believe that all religions have the same core spiritual truths. Their ongoing commitment is especially commendable considering, like other members of our local Iranian community, they continue to face uncertainty and fear for their loved ones in Iran and the trauma of their persecution at the hands of the Islamic republic regime in Iran.

Thank you to Shahram Niazian, Dot Haynes OAM, Frank Smit, Harmic Singh, Srikanthan Ratnasingham and all the members of the Manningham Interfaith Network for your work bringing the Menzies community together.

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