STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator SHARMA (New South Wales) (13:42): I rise today to extend my warmest wishes to the Australian Jewish community as they prepare to celebrate the upcoming High Holy Days, starting with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and ending with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This time in the Jewish calendar is a time of reflection, of renewal and of hope. It's an opportunity to look back on the year that has gone, to seek forgiveness and to set an intentional path for the year ahead.

It can only be said that the last year has been an incredibly traumatic and painful one for the Australian Jewish community. I recognise it's probably been the most difficult year they have ever faced in Australia. But the message of hope that I'd have for the Jewish community is that I believe the broader Australian community has now recognised that the fate and the welfare of Jewish Australians is rightly a concern for all Australians, that the safety and security of Jewish Australians is quite properly a concern and an interest of all Australians, and that we all as Australians have a responsibility to address some of the clear deficiencies and shortcomings in how Jewish Australians have been treated and how they've been forced to live their lives in Australia.

I want to thank the Jewish community for keeping faith with Australia, because I know that faith has been sorely tested over these past few years. Let me say that Australia would be a vastly diminished and poorer nation, in the spiritual and cultural sense of the word, if we didn't have our Jewish Australian community playing such a big part. To those in the community who are preparing to hear the sound of the shofar or to gather around tables with families and loved ones and to break fast, may the year 5785 bring you and your families strength, peace and joy.

L'shanah tovah u'metukah.