Tuesday, 18 February 2025

Religious discrimination

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (18:13): (1417) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. I seek the response of the minister as to whether she endorses the outrageous attacks on our Liberal candidate for Werribee by the Victorian Labor Party that were authorised by Labor Party State Secretary Steve Staikos, attacking Mr Murphy for being a devout Catholic and a member of the Knights of the Southern Cross, a reputable charitable Catholic ministry organisation, and for his views, which are deeply connected to his faith. Over the past two weeks I have passed this on and spoken to many faith leaders about this slanderous and disgusting personal attack on deeply held religious belief. They agree that this was a disgusting attempt to sow division in the community, and I seek the action of the Minister for Multicultural Affairs to clarify whether she endorses this slanderous attack on Christian Victorians and if the minister’s Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs, the member for Greenvale, where 80 per cent of people profess a faith – double the state average – also agrees with this slanderous attack.

This government preaches about social cohesion, but it is the first to sow division and bigotry. An attack on one faith community is an attack on all faith communities. Perhaps the Premier is trying to sweep this under the carpet by hosting a taxpayer-funded Shrove Tuesday celebration for leaders of Victoria’s Christian communities. I know that the Premier’s department does these kinds of events for different faith groups – taxpayer-funded events – and invites the Leader of the Opposition at the very last minute or, even worse, fails to invite any opposition MP to these taxpayer-funded events. This is the first one they have done with Christian communities. I seek the action of the minister. If this event is going to be a taxpayer-funded event, then all MPs should be invited. Otherwise, the event should be paid for by the Victorian Labor Party, as it becomes a party propaganda exercise.

I have had several faith leaders contact me about how the Premier of Victoria got their email address, whether I would be in attendance – the first I knew about it – but also that they did not know whether to laugh or be offended by the invitation to a Shrove Tuesday event. As the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, the Premier and the Premier’s department should know, Eastern Orthodox and Maronite communities do not celebrate Shrove Tuesday, so they found the invitation quite dumbfounding. Middle Eastern Christian churches – like the Maronite, Orthodox, Melkite, Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac Orthodox and Coptic communities – all start lent on the Monday and so would obviously be fasting on Shrove Tuesday and be unable to attend. I know that many of these communities, when the Premier’s department reached out for appropriate dates, advised against Shrove Tuesday, so they found it quite offensive. They advised that they would not be able to attend but thought it was a partisan event anyway. So I seek the action of the Minister for Multicultural Affairs – to write to Middle Eastern faith leaders to apologise for this blunder and also to apologise to Christian communities on behalf of the Victorian Labor Party for their slanderous attack on those in Christian faith.

The PRESIDENT: There were three actions, I think, in that adjournment matter. I think it is most likely there are a number of precedents from a number of different presiding officers around calling ministers responsible for party matters, but I think the minister will pick one of the other two.

Evan Mulholland: Just go with first one.

The PRESIDENT: I just said they are party matters.