SYDNEY: In the lead up to the next Federal Election, the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) facilitated a virtual meeting with Labor’s candidate for the seat of Fowler, Senator the Hon. Kristina Keneally for the Armenian-Australian community leaders in Western Sydney.

Keneally, the former Premier of New South Wales and a current Senator for New South Wales in the Federal Upper House, has been nominated as the candidate to run for the Western Sydney seat of Fowler following the resignation from politics of Chris Hayes MP.

Keneally has been meeting with numerous community, ethnic and religious organisations based in the electorate of Fowler, which is also home to the Armenian-Australian community of Western Sydney’s Armenian Cultural Panoyan Centre.

At the meeting with leaders of the Western Sydney Armenian community, they discussed the activities of established Armenian-Australian community organisations working throughout Western Sydney, including representatives of Armenian churches, the Armenian Resource Centre, the Armenian National Committee of Australia – Western Sydney Branch, the Armenian Sporting and Athletic Union Western Sydney Chapter (Homenetmen Navasart), the Armenian Cultural and Education Society Western Sydney Chapter (Hamazkaine Sevan), the Armenian Relief Society Western Chapter (ARS-AU Arax) and the local Armenian Youth Federation of Australia Senior and Junior Chapters (Pegor and Khanasor).

Attendees congratulated Keneally on the recent announcements regarding her switch to the Western Sydney seat of Fowler. They thanked her for her principled stance and advocacy, consistently calling for recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Australian Government and support for the indigenous Armenians of the Republic of Artsakh through her membership in the Australian Friends of Artsakh network.

Senator Keneally reiterated that as the Australian Labor Party’s candidate and elected member for the multicultural south-west Sydney seat of Fowler, her long-standing positions on issues of concern amongst the Armenian-Australian community will not be altered.

ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian thanked Keneally for providing a platform to speak with leaders of our community and listen to their concerns.

“We appreciate the opportunity to meet with our good friend and fierce supporter of Armenian-Australian issues, Senator Kristina Keneally – now as the candidate for Fowler showing her willingness to connect with the local Armenian-Australian community,” Kayserian said.

The ANC-AU will be meeting with candidates in Armenian-populated electorates throughout Australia prior to the next Federal Election to inform the community of their positions on key issues.