Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my part of Sydney, the major religious gatherings are enormous. I want to note that, over the last 12 months, the pandemic has been a significant hit to not only the religious but the cultural life of my part of Sydney, where people haven't been able to gather in large numbers.

The largest Christian gathering that we have each year and the largest Good Friday gathering I think in Australia is at Saint Charbel's at Punchbowl on Good Friday. The Good Friday service, with music known as music for Maronites and magnificent choir, orchestral music as well—and actually, most of it is written by an Australian, Father Geoffrey Abdallah, who I've known since he was at school. We weren't able to gather in that way last year; people had to watch it on live stream. This year, I'm looking forward to being able to share Good Friday again with people, including Sayedna Archbishop Antoine Tarabay and also everybody who gathers there at Saint Charbel's at Punchbowl.

Four weeks later, under the Orthodox calendar, it will be the time for the Greek community to celebrate Easter. There, while the Good Friday gathering is incredibly special as well, the Easter Sunday gathering at midnight is extraordinary. I look forward to being able to ascend the stairs with Father Christos again. The bell is rung, you look out, and over Belmore there are just red candles everywhere. This will be a very different experience to last year, when I, at midnight, just for the sake of it, stood on my own verandah, on my own, with a red candle in the middle of the night for Orthodox Easter.

I also want to acknowledge that, in the time between when parliament rises and when it resumes, Ramadan will start to be observed. Each year, because of functions under the lunar calendar, Ramadan comes forward 10 days earlier and 10 days closer to the warmer weather. That means that, every year at the moment, we're going through a process where the days are getting longer and the period of fasting therefore is becoming longer as well. Sadly, the councillor has announced—and I understand why—that, because of the pandemic, we're not going to be able to restore the Lakemba night markets this year. So I'd simply ask people to wait for another 12 months, because I do want to get back to the point when I can invite you all to come to Lakemba again—to come any time of night, from sunset to sunrise. It is a wonderful community. To everyone who is observing: Ramadan Kareem.