By Ethan Benedicto
The attendance and claim of belonging from neo-nazis to the 19 November community gathering at Guru Nanak Lake has since stoked the fires of division, with Parliamentary discussions from local MPs to the Premier rife in the air.
Victoria Premier, Jacinta Allan MP, stood stalwart in her support of the naming of Guru Nanak Lake, where in Tuesday 26 November, she called out the neo-Nazis for their attendance, and called the meeting of at 19 November as a move to “stoke division and hate”.
“When you divide communities, you create a void and extremists rush to fill it.
“We on this side of the house [Speaker], we stand with the Sikh community, we recognise the Sikh community, we name Guru Nanak Lake in honour of the Sikh community.
“The question for the Leader of the Opposition is does he stand with the Sikh community or does he stand with the neo-Nazis who drive division and hate,” she said.
Allan’s speech was met with jeers from the opposition and applause from her peers, as the discussion rippled from local MPs placing the blame for the presence of the neo-Nazis on Berwick MP Brad Battin.
This development came as both Change.org petitions come to a head, where as of Sunday 1 December, the petition to keep the name of Guru Nanak Lake has reached 8775 signatures, while the petition to change it to Berwick Springs Lake sits at 7728.
The City of Casey’s mayor, Stefan Koomen was appalled at the attendance of the extremists.
“As a newly elected councillor, and the mayor of Casey, our role as leaders is to bring our community together,” he said.
“It’s concerning and disappointing to hear that a small number of individuals who are committed to spreading extreme views and hate across Victoria attended a gathering in Casey.
“This behaviour does not reflect the community that I know and love.”
Although the lead has been taken, Michael Ball has actively denounced the neo-Nazis’ attendance and remains headstrong in pushing for the repealment, adding that he was shocked to hear what the Premier had to say.
“They’re making this a political issue, and it’s not,” he said.
“We are not playing party politics, it doesn’t matter who’s in government, whether it’s Liberal, Labor or independent, it’s not important.
“The issue is that we were not consulted and they’ve just turned up and changed the name [and] as I said with the neo-Nazis, they weren’t invited, they have no relevance to this issue whatsoever.
“I denounce any link between them and our campaign, there is no link, I denounce them trying to be there.”
Ball added that the Premier herself is trying to “make it a racism issue” and highlighted Dr Harpreet Singh Kandra’s points in a previous Berwick Star Article titled ‘Berwick Springs heats up’ as “completely wrong” and that he too is trying to make it a “political issue”.
Kandra had previously coined the backlash of the name as the fear of the unknown and questioned if it was truly the lack of consultation or the nature of the name itself.
“This is no one’s land, this is Indigenous land, we are all migrants here, so those protesting should actually understand that Indigenous leaders have ticked off the name,” he said.
“If the lake’s name changes do you think the purposes of the lake are affected in any way? Do you think people will not be able to walk there, exercise there and enjoy nature?
“Will the ecology of the lake be affected? None of these things are going to happen, there is an ego issue out of this that I don’t understand.”
Back in Parliament, Narre Warren South MP Gary Maas, who had attended the initial announcement of the name on 9 November, had “condemned” the Leader of the Opposition as well as Berwick MP Brad Battin regarding the neo-Nazis.
While Maas’ leave was refused, it was on the basis on “waiting three days and for a call from The Age to come clean about the fact that neo-Nazis had rocked up to a protest that they had organised”.
Cranbourne MP Pauline Richards also weighed in on the extremists, condemning, once more, the Leader of the Opposition, for “failing to stand up” against the neo-Nazis.
“[Also] backing in the member for Berwick, who has failed to condemn or apologise for the neo-Nazis who showed up at this divisive rally.”
From the west, Laverton MP Sarah Connolly also had a few words on the matter, saying that “this house condemns the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Berwick for spending their entire parliamentary careers spewing hate”.
“Whether it was African gangs, backflipping on treaty or attacking our much-loved Sikh community.”
Battin, during the community meeting on 19 November had explicitly highlighted that the topic of discussion had not been regarding the Sikh community and their belonging, additionally touching on their contributions to Victoria, but really about the lack of consultation and sidelining from the State Government of the Berwick Springs estate residents.
After Connolly, Lara MP Ella George and Melton MP Steve McGhie both criticised the leader of the opposition as well as Battin for the same lack of denouncement and action during the meeting towards the extremists.
With the debate resuming on Sonya Kilkenny’s motion of the same nature, Narracan MP Wayne Farnham came to Battin’s defence, stating that it is “disgraceful the way they [Labor] have behaved”.
“The member for Berwick is a hardworking member tha thad a community event about a lack of government consultation, this is what the event was about.
“Then we get grubby politics from the other side of the chamber accusing the member for Berwick of being affiliated with neo-Nazis and white supremacy and all the other rubbish that they want to come up with because they are flailing in the polls,” he said.
Once more adding that the moves against Battin have “no place in this chamber”, Farnham pointed out that the accusations on the Opposition have their basis as a form of diversion against the state’s support for Labor faltering.
Backing Kilkenny, Bass MP Jordan Crugnale praised the efforts made by Cranbourne MP Richards, Narre Warren South MP Maas and Bentleigh MP Nick Staikos in their support of the Sikh community.
“This is about community; this is not about the media, I join with them in the condemnation of those opposite that has fuelled division, effectively rolling out ‘the welcome mate of hate’.
“Victorians are entitled and right to be concerned, and in fact scared… about the regular occurrence of neo-Nazis turning up at events organised by, facilitated and enabled by members of the Liberal Party.
“This has been enabled by the Liberal Party, it is an absolute disgrace,” she said.
Crugnale began the conclusion of her speech by reading out a quote from a photograph posted by the neo-Nazis online, where it stated: “‘Me and the boys at the Liberal Party Klan rally at Berwick Springs on Tuesday… to take the lake back for the White Man!’.”
She further added that people would be “well within their right” if they were to question the feasibility of organising what she referred to as a “protest” alongside Anne-Marie Hermans MP if it wasn’t about the naming of a man-made lake that “had no name before”.
“People would have been entitled to question whether the rally would have ever occurred if the proposed name had not been a multicultural celebration.
“There was no name; had this been a white, middle-class name, had this been a name that fit in with every other name of the prevailing views over generations and many decades, would this rally or protest event [have] even occurred?
“Would it have occurred if the lake was proposed to be named May MacKillop Lake or Spring Valley Lake?” she said.
Ball has been adamant that the event had nothing to do with the Sikhs, their religion or their community, also acknowledging their merits and contributions within the state.
He claimed that Labor had begun pointing fingers, reiterating Farnham’s points that it was in a move to skirt the original topic of the lack of consultation, thus leaning on a more convenient crutch of the connections with the extremists.
Echoing Farnham’s points, Ball said that Labor’s moves of pointing fingers are an effort to divert attention from the initial issue, where they are instead leaning on the crutch of the connections to the extremists.
As te debate continues, the petitions and parliamentary rhetoric underscore deep divisions in the community, raising broader questions on representation, consultation and the role of identity.
