The Federal Member for Macarthur, Dr. Mike Freelander has signed an Affirmation of Support for the Joint Justice Initiative of the Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Greek-Australian communities, who are calling for Australian recognition of the Genocides suffered by their ancestors.
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.
Freelander, a Jewish-Australian, was a paediatrician before being elected to Federal Parliament in 2016. He has since served on the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport and on the standing committee for Social Policy and Legal Affairs.
“We thank Dr. Mike Freelander for supporting national Australian recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides,” said Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) Executive Director, Haig Kayserian.
“The Joint Justice Initiative strives to lead Australia onto the side of truth and justice on this issue of primary importance to the Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Greek-Australian communities, and we believe Dr. Freelander’s support brings us a step closer to achieving our goal.”
The Joint Justice Initiative has so far announced the support of Freelander, 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 recognize the Turkish-committed Genocide against the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian citizens of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.