Australian Hindus saved from Greens parties attack

By HCASJ

Hindu SRE under attack from Greens political party

Hindu Council of Australia defends its member VHP Australia Inc. from an unprovoked and unnecessary attack from the Greens party in NSW upper house.

What is SRE

The state of NSW in Australia permits religious organisations to register with the department of education and teach their religion (called SRE) to students in state run schools. Each school sets aside one or two periods a week during which volunteers of the registered religious organisation can go in the class and teach students about their faith. SRE, as it is known is a laudable initiative of the state as research has shown that SRE provides a safe environment for children to talk about their religion. SRE teachers are not paid by the schools and have to bear their own expenses for teaching material, transport etc.

Before a religious organisation gets registered, it has to fulfil some very stringent requirements of the education department. It has to put up its age appropriate syllabus on their website along with complaint process etc. SRE teachers have to be trained on many teaching aspects of education and have to clear a “Working with Children” check of the Police/Justice department.

Many well established religions in Australia have their own faith based schools. Parents who want their children to learn and practise their religion can send their children to these faith based schools. Hindu parents can’t do that. Hindus have arrived very recently and have not established any Hindu schools yet. SRE is the only place where Hindu children can learn about their religion in a school setting. Many Hindu organisations have registered themselves with the department and are teaching Hindu SRE classes. There is immense demand for Hindu SRE teachers from the schools and only a fraction of this demand can be met by Hindu volunteers.

Hindu SRE under threat by Greens party

A Greens party parliamentarian Mr David Shoebridge in a parliament committee meeting attacked one of the Hindu SRE provider as an extremist Hindu organisation and tried to stop it from teaching Hinduism at schools.

Mr Shoebridge accused VHP Australia of being an organisation banned by CIA. He also insinuated that VHP is somehow responsible for a fight between two different communities in Sydney.

Facts being ignored by Greens

The department of education has supported VHP as providing a valuable service and the department of Police and justice have found no evidence of VHP being involved in any terrorist activity. The claim of VHP having been banned by CIA has also stands rubbished. Minister Geoff Lee, minister for multiculturalism has appreciated the good work being done by VHP Sanskrit school and had even written a letter to Mr Shoebridge.

However, these facts did not matter to Greens and they refuse to see the facts and retract their statement and apologise to VHP, to Hindu community and to all SRE providers.

Hindu Council of Australia tried to meet Mr Shoebridge to explain the facts to him but things did not get very far.

Daniel Mookhey – a Hindu member of the Parliament and Labor party defend Hindus

Daniel Mookhey, the only Hindu in NSW Upper House had taken his oath on Bhagwat Gita. His father was one of the founders of the first Hindu temple (Sri Mandir, Auburn) in Australia. He has been a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 6 May 2015. He was born in Blacktown in Western Sydney to Indian migrants from Punjab.

Mr Mookhey lamented that “when I finished my schooling I had never, ever attended a Hindu scripture class. Today a Hindu child can learn in a New South Wales school that Hinduism as a faith is no less than Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism or the world’s other great religions. He also said that there is no evidence that the VHP in Australia is anything other than a voluntary organisation of men and women who teach Hindu children about their religion. So says the NSW Police Force; so says the Department of Education. The allegations that were made at budget estimates have hurt many people in the Hindu community. I and the Labor Party urge the member who made those allegations to reconsider making such remarks. Budget estimates is there to hold the Government accountable; it is not there to slur a peace-loving community with false allegations.”

The Hon. MARK LATHAM: The truth is we all make errors in public life. You deal with a lot of information and you try to put a lot of material into the public arena. Everyone makes mistakes. It is not that hard to say, “I got this wrong. I am sorry.” I am incredibly impressed by the great achievements of these schools. The Indian Hindu community works hard and makes a great contribution, particularly in the small business sector, and they have got something that they are proud of in our schools. It should not be diminished in this way. It should not be slurred in a manner that is completely beyond any factual information and record before the House. I say to Mr David Shoebridge that it is not that hard to say you have got this wrong and apologise to a community who clearly deserve that apology in all the circumstances. Be a person of honour. Be a man. Step up and say you are sorry.

The motion proposed by Mr Latham asking David Shoebridge to “withdraw his comments and apologise to the Hindu community” was passed by voice vote.