Bipartisan support for faith groups: Minns pledges $15 million

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“Many people would not have made it through the pandemic without the help of faith groups and their charities, selfless commitments to organisations and people, regardless of their own personal circumstances, regardless of their own faiths.”

“Across every community, faith organizations helped our state get through the crisis. So the lesson from this is clear. New South Wales is served best when its faith communities and its government work together. So let me now discuss how New South Wales Labor will work with New South Wales faith communities if we are fortunate enough to form government.”

“We will establish a New South Wales Faith Affairs Council, a formal channel of communication between faith organisations and my government. The Council will give feedback on the priorities and trends within faith communities. It will help coordinate the work done by faith based organizations during times of needs, such as the recent pandemic and of course, natural disasters.”

“We look forward to transitioning the current membership of the Religious Advisory Council over to our new Faith Council when and if we form government in 26 days time. Friends, we are meeting in Parramatta in the heart of a great and diverse community here in Western Sydney.”

Mr Minns also talked about tackling vilification and hate speech specially addressing Islamophobia and anti-semiticism and vowed that Islamophobic attack that took place on a Muslim women in Parramatta will never happen again.

“I’m referring to the New South Wales tradition of welcoming newcomers and embracing diversity. New South Wales is proudly multicultural and proudly multi-faith and I believe the government has a role to play, to support and defend this tradition defended against those who advocate hatred and even violence against our citizens.

“Just around the corner from where we meet tonight, a young woman named Rana Elmir was sitting in a cafe wearing the symbol of her faith, the hijab who was repeatedly punched and stomped on in an unprovoked attack. The man who attacked her spoke of his hatred for Muslims prior to hitting her.”

“We can’t allow this to happen. The most recent report on Islamophobia in Australia analyzed 247 verified incidents over a 24 month period. It found eight in ten victims were women and of these women 85% were wearing a hijab at the time.”

“The same report found the number of Is- lamophobic incidents increased significantly after the mosque attacks in Christchurch. Reporting of physical incidents increased four times, while reporting of online cases increased 18 times within the two week period after that horrible attack in Christchurch, New Zealand.”

Concluding his address he assured the NSW Muslim community that they will be safe in this great Multicultural society and he will ensure that building of peace and harmony is given top priority.

The faith leaders have also secured a bipartisan commitment to be able to pray and preach on matters of sexuality under proposed laws banning so-called gay conversion therapy, after NSW Labor leader Chris Minns vowed to protect their rights under any new legislation. More photos pg 19.