Multicultural moment at parliament opening
A DAY of formality and tradition was made more moving this week with an extraordinary expression of multiculturalism.
A DAY of formality and tradition was made more moving this week with an extraordinary expression of multiculturalism.
On Tuesday, Labor’s Michael Danby, wearing a white kippah and with his hand on a siddur, was sworn in as a Member of Parliament opposite his parliamentary colleague, Ed Husic, who took his oath on the Koran.
It was a picture of multicultural Australia as the two MPs made the same oath on their different prayer books, both pledging to serve the Queen and the Parliament.
Afterwards, when the pair was returning to their seats, Husic, the son of Bosnian Muslims, offered a hand to Danby.
Also being inducted on Tuesday was Liberal Ken Wyatt, the first indigenous MP. Wyatt took the oath wearing traditional garments.
Wyatt was not the only first on the Opposition side of the chamber; it was the first time the Liberal Party had welcomed a Jewish MP to its benches.
Josh Frydenberg, the new member for Kooyong, also donned a kippah to pledge his allegiance to the office.
Watched on by his parents and fiancee in the public gallery, Frydenberg swore his oath on a bible that had been used to swear in the last Jewish Governor-General, Sir Zelman Cowen.
Frydenberg, who was smiling with excitement to have grabbed the seat he has aspired to for many years, remains a close confidant of Sir Zelman, who at 91 was too frail to make his way to the ceremony himself.
The multicultural make-up of the House of Representatives was noted by re-elected speaker Harry Jenkins, who welcomed the more representative membership.
Also sworn in on Tuesday was Labor MP Mark Dreyfus, who, after a promotion to Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and Cabinet Secretary, has moved off the back benches and is now seated just behind his minister, Greg Combet.
Speaking after the oaths were taken, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the MPs know voters are hoping for a new era of governing.
“We accept the realities and welcome the opportunity for reform they present,” she said. “The Australian people have sent us here expecting something better.”
She turned to the Opposition as well and to the howls of derision that are characteristic of the Lower House, telling them “don’t squander this moment”.
NAOMI LEVIN
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