Mrs Lazar told SBS the Ministers were The Hon Andrew Giles, MP Minister for Immigration & The Hon Chris Bowen, MP Minister for Climate Change and Energy.
The visit was facilitated by Minister Chris Bowen, a good friend of the Assyrian community for decades and who has been a supportive voice for the Assyrians in The Australian Parliament.
The manager of ARC said, “for Hon. Giles, this was his first encounter with the Assyrian community. He was very impressed and almost overwhelmed when he arrived at the centre; he was greeted by more than 200 community members. There were also representatives from The Chaldean League, the Armenian community and others”.
The minister for Immigration explored the centre and was presented with a gift from the President Assyrian Australian Association, Dr Benjamin Daoud.
After that meeting, the two ministers headed to Fairfield High School, which has many students from refugees and newly arrived migrants.
The ministers then headed to St Narsai Assyrian Christian College. H.B Mar Meelis Zaia received them, Metropolitan of Assyrian Church of the East residing over Australia, NZ and Lebanon and received by the principal of the College.
After all, Mrs Lazar says, the visit was an eye opener to Minister Giles, and she believes that what the minister saw in this visit is that the Assyrian community is an active and vibrant community that worked hard to establish community centres, Churches, clubs and schools for the benefit of the Australian community.
