MELBOURNE: In historic news, a Parliamentary Friends of Armenia Group has been formed for the first time in the Parliament of the Australian state of Victoria, and will be co-chaired by South Eastern Metropolitan Region Upper House parliamentarians, Michael Galea MP and Ann-Marie Hermans MP, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).
The group, which consists of 18 Victorian Parliamentarians, will be convened by Hermans and Galea, both of whom serve the largest concentration of Armenian-Australians in Victoria.
In addition, Liberal Member for Rowville, Mr Kim Wells MP, who also boasts a sizeable Armenian-Australian community in his electorate, will assume the role as Secretary of the group.
Members of Victoria’s Armenian-Australian community, who were present at the 2023 ANC-AU Advocacy Week event in Melbourne, were informed of the historic establishment of the group, which has been in the pipelines since the 2022 Victorian State Elections.
Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Michael Kolokossian, welcomed the formation of the group.
He said, “Prior to 2023, the last time an Armenian-Australian issue was raised in the Victorian parliament was in 2006. In 2023, we witnessed five Parliamentarians go on the record of the Armenian Genocide, two parliamentarians visit the Republic of Armenia and two speeches on Artsakh being delivered on the floor of the Victorian Parliament. Now we are pleased to hear of the formation of the Parliamentary Friendship group.”
“We express our sincere thanks to our parliamentary friends, including Mr Galea, Ms Hermans and Mr Wells, whose collective ongoing efforts helped us reach this milestone. Thank you for your ongoing support and we look forward to working with the co-chairs and all members of the cohort in 2024,” Kolokossian added.
The formation of the Parliamentary Friends of Armenia in Victoria, takes the number of friendship groups across the country to three, with similar groups in the New South Wales Parliament (co-chaired by Dr Hugh McDermott - Member for Prospect and Mr Tim James - Member for Willoughby) and in the Federal Parliament (co-chaired by Mr Jerome Laxale - Member for Bennelong and Hon. Paul Fletcher - Member for Bradfield).
