Prime Minister: The Hon. Scott Morrison – Transcript – Remarks, Berwick Temple, Victoria – Monday 22 April 2019

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much for your incredibly warm and beautiful welcome. I feel quite overwhelmed with the beauty of this place and more importantly the beauty of the people, from the youngest to the oldest here today. On a day like this – as the monks were just laying blessings over us – it’s a great opportunity to reflect on the beauty of the human spirit. Because the terrible events that took place in your mother land in Sri Lanka were assault on that beauty, were assault on the innocence of human life and it’s incredibly sad.

I’ve visited Sri Lanka on a number of occasions and I’ve always been struck by the absolute beauty of the people as I met with them around the country, from the north to the south, to the east to the west. Sri Lanka is a multicultural country. It has people from many different faiths and many different traditions. Like here in our own country, Sri Lanka celebrates its diversity, its faith diversity. Sri Lanka is a country that has known great pain, through 30 years of civil war. Since the end of that civil war it has been a decade since we’ve seen such violence in that place. We don’t know yet who was responsible for this violence. But I do know this; hate and evil are what sits behind any such attacks. They are the enemies of peace. They are the enemies of the innocence that we saw as those beautiful young girls were dancing for us today, that’s what we stand against as a country, as a nation, as a people drawn from many different backgrounds and faiths. We stand here together and we look at these young people and we are full of hope. We are full of love, because love conquers fear. Love conquers evil. Love is the basis of peace and it is what binds us all together as an Australian people, but more broadly as people all around the world.

So our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters there in Sri Lanka who on the most holy of days to Christians, to be attacked in their place of worship, to be targeted in that way, was unthinkable at any other time, but these days, too often is occurring. So I want to thank you all very much for the ability to come here today and celebrate the positivity and the optimism and the hope that we all share.

Faith, belief, culture; all of this is at the heart of community which we see on the display, which I find quite overwhelming here this morning. That is our response; to celebrate that faith, culture and belief that binds communities together in the way it does here. That’s why I am very pleased to be here with Jason today, who has always been a champion of the many different communities that make up our Australian community here in the seat of La Trobe. His passion for investing in the continued strength of the community, not just to be there to celebrate and to be part of the wonderful times when communities can come together and celebrate, but at difficult times like this. At difficult times when the community relies on each other, on their belief and their faith and their ties.

This is why we make these investments. We have a $10 million investment in cultural language education which I announced a few months ago, which will include programmes like the ones that are being run here. But today I’m pleased to announce, in addition to the support we’ve always already provided to this facility which the young people spoke so beautifully and eloquently about, that we’re committing a further $280,000 to that project here.

[Applause]

I commend Jason for his advocacy on this, but particularly he knows he’s simply the champion for the wonderful community that is on display. How could we not respond to the beauty and the strength of this wonderful community that is enriching the lives of this part of the nation? So for Jenny and I, it’s very special to be here today Jason, thank you so much. Thank you so much for your beautiful and warm welcome, it’s been a great privilege to be here with you today. I want to thank you all very much and I look forward to coming again. Once you seen that dance, you’ve got to come back for more.

[Laughter]

They just look so gorgeous dancing there with the beautiful violin music, so congratulations and peace be with you today.

[Applause]

[ENDS]