CANBERRA: Federal Senator for South Australia, Rex Patrick has added his backing to the Joint Justice Initiative of the Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Greek-Australian communities calling for Australian recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides.
The February 2020 launch of the Joint Justice Initiative at Australia’s Parliament House featured the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU), Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) and Australian Hellenic Council (AHC), which declares Australia’s recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides as a priority on behalf of their communities.
As a cross-bench Senator representing Centre Alliance, Patrick has addressed the Australian Government’s position appeasing Armenian Genocide denial during Senate Estimates questioning and at the event’s national commemoration evenings in 2019 and 2020.
Further, Centre Alliance has a party position recognising the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides, and calling on Australia to do the same.
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Patrick, who is also an outspoken voice for greater government transparency and against domestic violence, signed the Affirmation of Support for the Joint Justice Initiative to continue his consistent support for this issue that impacts so many Australians who are descendants of the 1915 Genocide.
“Senator Rex Patrick has long proven himself to be a principled politician, and on this issue, he and his party have a principled position that sides with truth and justice,” said Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) Executive Director, Haig Kayserian.
“With support for the Joint Justice Initiative growing, Senator Patrick and his colleagues will help us bring Australia to that same principled position before too long.”
The Joint Justice Initiative has so far announced the support of Patrick, Mike Freelander MP, Senator Eric Abetz, Senator Larissa Waters, Senator Pat Dodson, Jason Falinski MP, Josh Burns MP, John Alexander MP, Senator Andrew Bragg and Bob Katter MP, with a promise of more announcements to come.
On 25th February 2020, over 100 Federal Australian parliamentarians, diplomats, departmental officials, political staffers, academics, media and community leaders were treated to cultural performances, food, wine and brandy, as well as the historic signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, which affirmed that the signatory public affairs representatives of the three communities were jointly committed to seeing Australia recognise the Turkish-committed Genocide against the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian citizens of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
Armenian National Committee of Australia