CANBERRA: Member for Melbourne and Leader of The Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP has joined the Joint Justice Initiative, continuing his party’s calls for Federal 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.
An industrial lawyer by training, Bandt took over leadership of the largest cross-bench party in the Federal Parliament, The Australian Greens in 2020 after the retirement of fellow Joint Justice Initiative supporter, Richard Di Natale.
Bandt has represented constituents in the electorate of Melbourne since 2010, and always stood out as a supporter of human rights and social issues in public office.
Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU), Haig Kayserian, said the Joint Justice Initiative was pleased to see another familiar face join the Initiative.
“Mr. Bandt has been a long-time advocate for human rights and has consistently called for Federal Australian recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides,” said Kayserian.
Kayserian added: “The Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Greek-Australian communities represented in the Joint Justice Initiative thank Mr. Bandt and The Australian Greens for their principled condemnation of what happened to our ancestors at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.”
The Joint Justice Initiative has so far announced the support of Bandt, Tim Wilson MP, Senator Janet Rice, Steve Georganas MP, Michael Sukkar MP, Senator Louise Pratt, Warren Entsch, Joel Fitzgibbon MP, Andrew Wilkie MP, Julian Leeser MP, Michelle Rowland MP, Senator Paul Scarr, Tony Zappia MP, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Senator Hollie Hughes, Senator Rex 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 Genocides against the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian citizens of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
Armenian National Committee of Australia