CANBERRA: Federal Senator for Western Australia, Louise Pratt has joined Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Greek-Australian calls for national recognition of the 1915 Genocide committed against their ancestors by the Ottoman Empire, by signing an Affirmation of Support backing the Joint Justice Initiative.

The February 2020 launch of the Joint Justice Initiative at Australia's Parliament House featured the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU), Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) and Australian Hellenic Council (AHC), which declares Australia's recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides as a priority on behalf of their communities.

Pratt has been a vociferous advocate on social issues since first entering Federal Parliament in 2008, prior to which she spent eight years serving in the Western Australian State Parliament.

"Senator Louise Pratt has long engaged with our communities on this issue, and we Armenian-Australians, Assyrian-Australians and Greek-Australians thank her for adding her voice to calls for Australian recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides," said Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) Executive Director, Haig Kayserian.

"We believe it is time Australia joins righteous nations in standing for truth and justice on this issue, and are delighted to be joined in our advocacy by Senator Pratt."

The Joint Justice Initiative has so far announced the support of Pratt, Warren Entsch, Joel Fitzgibbon MP, Andrew Wilkie MP, Julian Leeser MP, Michelle Rowland MP, Senator Paul Scarr, Tony Zappia MP, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Senator Hollie Hughes, Senator Rex Patrick, Mike Freelander MP, Senator Eric Abetz, Senator Larissa Waters, Senator Pat Dodson, Jason Falinski MP, Josh Burns MP, John Alexander MP, Senator Andrew Bragg and Bob Katter MP, with a promise of more announcements to come.

On 25th February 2020, over 100 Federal Australian parliamentarians, diplomats, departmental officials, political staffers, academics, media and community leaders were treated to cultural performances, food, wine and brandy, as well as the historic signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, which affirmed that the signatory public affairs representatives of the three communities were jointly committed to seeing Australia recognise the Turkish-committed Genocide against the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian citizens of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.



More information here.