It’s not hard to figure why Mehreen Faruqi worried about fitting in when she moved to Port Macquarie 22 years ago. The 2001 census records that 99 per cent of residents were Australian- or European-born and the Faruqi family were the only Muslims in town.
But it’s harder to comprehend why Faruqi now wants to abolish Harmony Day, given her heartening migration story of a woman who fled intolerance and prejudice to be welcomed in Australia, where she fulfilled her dream of becoming an engineer and now sits with the Greens in the Senate.
Faruqi told the Sydney Morning Herald nine years ago that moving to Port Macquarie with her husband and small children was “the best thing we did … just fantastic”.
“They say in smaller towns you need to live there for generations to be accepted as part of the community, but our experience was the exact opposite,” she said. “We probably made more friends in five years than in living in Sydney. It’s such a nice community.”
Last month Faruqi wrote to Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Adam Giles urging him abolish Harmony Day, an initiative of the Howard government.
Harmony Day, according to the Department of Home Affairs “is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values”. On March 21 it was celebrated in schools and workplaces for the 24th time with displays of orange ribbons, multicultural clothing and food.
Read the article by Nick Cater in The Australian.