CANBERRA: The Federal Member for Macnamara Josh Burns has signed an Affirmation of Support, adding his backing to the Joint Justice Initiative of the Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Greek-Australian communities calling for Australian recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides.

Burns, who in 2019 won the Victorian seat previously named Melbourne Ports held by now-retired Armenian Genocide recognition advocate Michael Danby, is a strong advocate for human rights who has felt the pain of genocide in his own lineage. His maternal grandmother came to Australia as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany.

Burns was present at the February 2020 launch of the Joint Justice Initiative, which featured the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU), Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) and Australian Hellenic Council (AHC), which declares Australia's recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides as a priority on behalf of their communities.

"We thank Mr. Josh Burns for his support of the Joint Justice Initiative," said Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) Executive Director, Haig Kayserian.

"Mr. Burns has been a supporter of national recognition of the 1915 Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire since before his election in 2019, and we are happy he has added his signature to this initiative as a Member of Parliament."

Burns is also a signatory of the Australian Friends of Artsakh – a network of prominent Australians who support the Armenian Republic of Artsakh's rights to self-determination.

The Joint Justice Initiative has so far announced the support of Burns, John Alexander MP, Senator Andrew Bragg and Bob Katter MP, with a promise of more announcements to come.

On 25th February 2020, over 100 Federal Australian parliamentarians, diplomats, departmental officials, political staffers, academics, media and community leaders were treated to cultural performances, food, wine and brandy, as well as the historic signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, which affirmed that the signatory public affairs representatives of the three communities were jointly committed to seeing Australia recognise the Turkish-committed Genocide against the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian citizens of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.



More information here.