With New South Wales in the midst of an election campaign, leaders of the Australian state’s two major political parties pledged additional funds for the security of religious communities.
Last week, incumbent NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced that the Liberals would provide $10 million for the safety of communities.
This week, Labor leader Chris Minns pledged to increase the available money to $15 million if he becomes premier.
Both leaders announced the additional funding during speeches to NSW Faith Communities Forums events that were co-hosted by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD), the Australian Jewish News reported.
Minns told the gathering that if elected, his government would create a “formal channel of communication between faith organizations and my government.”
“I became leader in the middle of the pandemic, so I got to see firsthand the work of our faith communities in NSW and it was extraordinary,” Minns said. “NSW is served best when its faith communities and its government work together.”
Besides the pledge of $15 million for safety, he also said his government would enact a “Premier’s Prevention Panel on Racism and Extremism” to tackle growing security concerns, especially among minority religious groups.
The committee would include leaders from religious communities.
“NSW needs a comprehensive approach so we can respond to hate crimes when they occur and help prevent them in the first place,” Minns said.
“The roots of racism and extremism begin long before it manifests itself into acts of violence and destruction, and Labor’s policy will tackle the issue at the source. Everyone deserves to be treated with tolerance and respect, no matter your faith, where you come from, or how you look,” he added.
NSW JBD president David Ossip praised the announcements of both parties.
“Unfortunately, not only are the threats against our communities increasing, but also the costs of protecting them, so we welcome NSW Labor’s bipartisan support for security funding,” he told the news outlet.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)