House of Representatives

Monday, 3 June 2013 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 23
don't have enough time, there is not going to be any
inquiry. Tough luck.' So coalition members issued a
dissenting report because it is a travesty that there is
not adequate parliamentary committee oversight of this
executive government—100 per cent a consequence of
nothing else other than this government's inability to
direct and control its legislative agenda.
DELEGATION REPORTS
Delegation to Lebanon
Mr BURKE (Watson—Minister for the Arts,
Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water and
Population and Communities) (12:03): by leave—On
25 May a delegation of myself and the member for
Cook was sent to Lebanon for the ordination of the
new Maronite bishop. The ordination of the new
Maronite bishop, Bishop Tarabay, represents a
wonderful moment for the Maronite Church in
Australia.
I have known Father Tarabay, as he then was, for
many years both as the priest at St Charbel's in
Punchbowl and as a friend. He has been a genuine
community leader and a voice for peace and unity in
the community for a long time. When I contacted him
to congratulate him after the announcement had been
made of his imminent appointment, he immediately
asked whether or not it would be possible to have
Australian representation, and I was pleased that, for
the first time, we had a bipartisan delegation go across
to Lebanon to attend the ordination. It is the first time
that the Australian parliament has sent such a
delegation to an event such as this anywhere in the
world. It is also the first time that the Maronite Church
have chosen their bishop of Australia from amongst the
Australian clergy. There were messages presented to
his Lordship—or, as he is called within the Maronite
Church, Sayedna—from the Prime Minister and from
the Leader of the Opposition, and when I have both of
those in my possession I will be happy to table them
together. The decision to choose the new bishop from
among the Australian clergy is a great tribute to the
growth of the Maronite Church within Australia and to
the significant strength of that faith as it is viewed by
the hierarchy and by the patriarch himself in Beirut.
At the event, where the member for Cook and I
represented Australia, the representative of the
government of Lebanon was a minister, Mr Walid
Daouk. I think it is significant that the President chose
a Sunni Muslim as the Lebanese government's
representative at the ordination of the Maronite bishop.
Lined up along the front row were Mrs Nayla
Mouwad, His Excellency Mr Gibran Basil, Mr Chaker
Salame, Mr Samir Geagea, Mr Boutros Harb and Mr
Tony Franjieh, all of them political rivals in different
ways. Some of them have lost loved ones through
assassination and through extraordinarily heated battle,
and one of them has spent many, many years
CHAMBER
imprisoned, yet all of them lined up for what was an
extraordinary moment of unity for the ordination itself.
The following day, we had a celebration in the
village of Bishop Tarabay, the village of Tannourine. I
have to say the Lebanese know how to celebrate in a
way that Australians cannot match. It was one of the
most extraordinary celebrations I suspect I will ever
see. As we walked through the streets, a number of
young women from the area in traditional dress threw
rice and rose petals everywhere, which the member for
Cook and I were assured were being thrown for the
benefit of the Bishop, not for us! We had Lebanese
drums being beaten loudly, we had fireworks going off
and we had other forms of percussion in the
background, celebratory as well. There was an
extraordinary sense, as thousands lined the streets—
almost all of whom had some connection to
Australia—that this was a unique celebration, as
special for Australia as it was for Lebanon.
A couple of days earlier, I had had the opportunity
to meet with President Sleiman. I am very glad,
Madam Deputy Speaker Owens, that you are in the
chair at this moment, because it was you who first
raised with me the prospect, in honour of this occasion,
of planting a cedar of Lebanon in Australia. After my
meeting with President Sleiman, I was able to go to the
gardens of the presidential palace and, there, right in
the middle of the gardens, are an old cedar tree, a
young cedar tree and an olive tree. Planted there with
them now is an Australian gum tree. I took the
opportunity on behalf of the Prime Minister, when we
were in Tannourine, to invite Bishop Tarabay, on his
return to Australia, to come to the Lodge in Canberra
where, in amongst the Australian trees, a cedar of
Lebanon will be planted too. In this way, when the
westerly winds blow through Canberra and the
eucalyptus leaves fall, they will be landing side by side
with the needle-like leaves of a cedar of Lebanon. In
Lebanon, in the presidential palace, the roots of the
cedar of Lebanon will intertwine with an Australian
eucalypt. They will be criss-crossing their way on the
same soil on which stood the apostles, the gum tree's
roots forever bound with those of the cedar of
Lebanon.
There is an extraordinary pride within the Maronite
community and the Lebanese community generally
about the connections that have remained with family
and with faith between Australia and Lebanon. This
was a wonderful occasion. I was deeply pleased that it
was able to be dealt with in a bipartisan manner and I
have no doubt that the ordination of Bishop Tarabay
augurs very well for the Maronite community and all
Australians for many years to come.
Mr MORRISON (Cook) (12:10): by leave—I rise
also to offer my congratulations to His Grace Bishop
Antoine Tarabay. I had the privilege of attending his