Pakistan-born Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi has urged the Australian Parliament to scrap the Lord’s Prayer, saying mass migration has transformed the country’s demographics.
“This country is changing, our community is changing and our parliament is changing,” Faruqi said. “More than half of us were born overseas or have a parent born overseas and a quarter of us have a non-European background. Let’s stop pretending that we are a white Christian monocultural society. We are not. We never were. We must shed the shackles of colonialism. Racism, the oath to the British monarch and the reading of the Lord’s Prayer to start our day have no place in here.”
Separately, progressive activist group GetUp released a video arguing Australia’s foreign policy on China must account for its large Chinese-Australian community to avoid communal tensions.
“1.4 million Australians have Chinese heritage. They’re our neighbours, workmates and families,” the video states. “We’ve already seen immigrants villainised and targeted, tensions ready to explode in our streets. War would ignite this fuse, tearing Australian communities apart.”
The comments, highlighted by activist Drew Pavlou, have fuelled debate among Greek Australians about the impact of high immigration on national symbols, social cohesion and foreign policy.