Suprovat Sydney Report:  For more than 10 years, the local Federal and State Members of Parliament have hosted a community Iftar. Jason Clare, Federal Member for Blaxland, Tony Burke, Federal Member for Watson and Jihad Dib, State Member for Lakemba have used the event to celebrate leaders in the community.

The Iftar was held less than a week after Jihad Dib was successfully elected to the State seat of Bankstown in the 2023 NSW elections. This event was also an opportunity to thank some of the many people who played a role in his electoral success.

The bringing together of people from so many different backgrounds to share a meal displays the best of community. It is an opportunity for Jason, Tony and Jihad to thank people who do incredible work to lift all of us up.

The event was held at the PCYC Bankstown who provided assistance in making the evening happen. The Welcome to Country was performed by Uncle John Dickson, a Wiradjuri elder and the recitation of the Qur’an was performed by Sheikh Mohammad Harby.

Special guests included:

*Member-elect for East Hills, Kylie Wilkinson

*The Hon. Ihab Matar –Member of Parliament in Lebanon

*Sheikh Shadi Alsuleiman

*Reverend Bill Crews

*Reverend Dr Patrick McInerney

*Clr Khal Asfour, Mayor of Canterbury-Bankstown Council

*Clr Clare Raffan, Deputy Mayor Canterbury- Bankstown Council

Councillors of Canterbury Bankstown Council:

*Bilal El Hayek

*Karl Saleh

*Rachelle Harika

*Linda Downey

*Bhadra Waiba

*David Walsh

*Chris Cahill

Councillors of Cumberland Council:

*Glenn Elmore

*Ola Hamed

*Mohamad Hussein

*Secretary of Australian Services Union of NSW & ACT, Angus McFarland

*Dominic Teakle, CEO of PCYC NSW

*Md Abdullah Yousuf, Editor in Chief, the only Bangladesh community Newspaper in Australia.