00:02We're going to be hearing from the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli,
00:06who has been a real leading force in the interfaith dialogue world.
00:11He actually led a delegation to Israel a couple of years ago in the midst of the war in Gaza
00:17and really visiting both Israel and the Palestinian territories alongside rabbis and other religious
00:24leaders, and he's been speaking out in recent years about the effect of anti-Semitism and
00:30the need to express solidarity with the Jewish people, but also more broadly the need for
00:35people of all faiths to come together.
00:37We're also going to be hearing from Peter Huggins, who is an Anglican bishop, he's been really
00:42active in the social justice space, but also campaigning for interfaith dialogue to improve.
00:49So we're expecting to hear evidence from both them and a few others about the importance
00:53of interfaith dialogue.
00:55This is really, I guess in a way, coming together during difficult times, but setting aside differences
01:04as well.
01:04We heard in previous hearings that much of this work has been happening prior to October 7.
01:12When it comes to some of these leaders, they actually really worked on developing these
01:17ties and developing trust during the good times, so that when times of crisis come, they really
01:23do have those relationships to lean on.
01:25And so, Gavin, who else will give evidence today?
01:28Well, Kath, we're also going to be hearing from Marcia Lengton, who of course is a leading
01:33campaigner for the rights of First Nations people and very involved, obviously, in the
01:39Yes campaign, the failed Yes campaign in the referendum, the voice referendum a couple of
01:44years ago.
01:44But she's also very esteemed in the education sphere, and she will be giving evidence today
01:49about how education could be used to improve social cohesion and foster reconciliation.
01:56And this sort of follows on from David Gonski's evidence yesterday, himself an esteemed education
02:03advocate and someone who is passionate about education all the way from primary school to university.
02:09And he made quite an impassioned call for ethics education to be rolled out nationally.
02:15This is something that is only really taught in primary schools in New South Wales.
02:19And he said, it's rather odd that something that teaches critical thinking and teaches empathy
02:25and, you know, logical, cognitive skills is only available to such a small cohort.
02:32So he'd like to see a national rollout of that.
02:36And just finally, we're also going to be hearing from a man called Abe Schwartz.
02:40Now, he is a Jewish leader who's been very active in campaigning for the rights of First
02:46Nations people as well.
02:47So we're expecting to hear some rather powerful testimony from him about the importance of bridging
02:54divides and working in solidarity with others.
02:57Gavin Coote, thank you.
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