Glen Eira City Council, Victoria, partnered with the Anti Defamation Commission on 3 May, to host a breakfast forum to show its support for an ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse community.
Guests included mayors and chief executive officers from neighbouring councils, members of parliament, faith-based leaders, local school principals and student representatives, community organisations and State Government departments.
Glen Eira Mayor, Jamie Hyams, said the purpose of the breakfast forum was to promote inclusion for everyone, particularly related to ethnicity, culture, religion or belief.
“The Forum was important in helping us gain shared understanding of the impact that discrimination and hate has on some members of our community.”
Anti Defamation Commission Chair, Dr Dvir Abramovich, said, “I am grateful to the leadership and vision shown by Council and confident this forum will send a message of strength and unity to the community at large.”
Keynote speaker, cross-cultural consultant Tasneem Chopra, spoke about what role councils can play when religious and faith-based denominations feel they are being persecuted globally.
Dr Abramovich and Ms Chopra were also part of the panel discussion chaired by author and broadcaster Dr Rachael Kohn.
The panel discussion included presentations by Boon Wurrung Elder spokesperson N’Arweet Carolyn Briggs, counter-terrorism academic expert Professor Greg Barton and Superintendent Sharon McKinnon on behalf of Chief Commissioner Victoria Police.
In response to racial and religious intolerance, a Together We Stand Joint Statement of Commitment was also signed by Mayor Hyams, Dr Abramovich, Ms Briggs and invited attendees.
