Jamal Hakim’s ambitious Lord Mayor promise for more public holidays for Eid, Hanukkah and Diwali

A Melbourne councillor turned Lord Mayoral candidate has promised $10m for more festivals to make multicultural religious holidays “as big as Christmas”.

 

A Melbourne councillor turned Lord Mayor hopeful has launched an ambitious bid to lobby the state government for additional public holidays to make more multicultural religious holidays “as big as Christmas”.

As part of his campaign to replace recently sworn in Nicholas Reece — who replaced Sally Capp in July after her resignation — at this year’s Melbourne City Council elections, Jamal Hakim says he’ll also commit an extra $10m to “boost” the city festivals for Diwali, Hanukkah and Eid.

Mr Hakim, a Lebanese-Australian who runs his own consulting firm which helps businesses achieve diversity in the workforce, was elected to council in November 2020.

Outgoing Lord Mayor Sally Capp (left) with candidate and independent councillor Jamal Hakim (right). Picture: Supplied

Mr Hakim told the Herald Sun he wanted to see these three events become “as big as Christmas” in Melbourne.

“As Lord Mayor I’m going to advocate heavily for a state public holiday for Diwali, Eid and Hanukkah because it’s time to recognise our multicultural community,” he said.

“We need to create a space where we can all celebrate together, as these groups do with us on Christmas which is very important.

“We want to build stronger ties between communities and this is what that does.”

Mr Hakim said while celebrating Christmas was “great”, it was “now saturated”.

“What I’m saying is bring this effect across the year by celebrating a multicultural calendar,” he said.

“We’re going to continue to strengthen Christmas and all community festivals … but my commitment is $10m for these festivals that have not had their time.”

People enjoying the 2023 Diwali Festival at Marvel Stadium. Picture: Mark Stewart

Mr Hakim, a Lebanese-Australian who runs his own consulting firm helping businesses achieve diversity in the workforce, was elected to council in November 2020.

One of his biggest policies driving his Lord Mayor campaign is for candidates to publicly reveal their donors in real time.

Diwali (the Festival of Lights) is one of the biggest events on the Hindu calendar and is celebrated for about a week between September and November.

Marvel Stadium is expected to host more than 10,000 people in October this year as part of celebrations for the festival.

Hinduism is the largest and most practised religion in India, and Victoria has nearly 372,000 people with Indian ancestries.

A seven day “Pillars of Light” event is also held at Federation Square in honour of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.

This year Hanukkah will be observed between December 25 and January 2.

Various festivals have also been held at Federation Square and the Queen Victoria Market to celebrate Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic fasting and prayer period of Ramadan.

City of Melbourne also holds its annual Antipodes Greek festival along Lonsdale St, a Polish festival at Federation Square and Bastille Day at Federation Square.

The 2021 Census found 2.4m people in Greater Melbourne had both their parents born overseas.

Mr Hakim said he had planned several round table meetings with multicultural leaders about how to best boost their respective festivals and religious holidays.

“It has to be community led and delivered by communities,” he said.

The state government has been contacted for comment over the potential public holidays.

He’s also campaigning for candidates to publicly reveal their donors in real time.

Council elections, including that of the City of Melbourne, will be held in October across the state.

Find out everything you need to know about the elections here.

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.