New Independent Bass MP George Razay has broken out into song during his maiden speech to the Tasmanian parliament today.
George Razay recited the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago.
Other MPs watched on as Razay delivered the prayer, before he lifted his hands to encourage them to join in.
The newly elected member told the parliament that Aramaic remains the liturgical language of his Syriac Orthodox Church, one of Christianity’s oldest denominations dating back to the early disciples in Antioch.
Professor Razay’s 30-minute speech traced his remarkable journey from rural Syria to becoming Tasmania’s newest crossbench MP, highlighting the people who shaped his path across three countries.
Born in 1956 in Deir Ekkur Malikiyah in north-eastern Syria, Razay was the second of eight children in a working-class family. Despite his father completing only fifth grade and his mother being illiterate, education was paramount in their household.
“My father … was passionate about the power of education,” Razay told parliament.
“Although he only studied to grade five … he was full of wisdom and knowledge about any topic you could imagine.”
After graduating from medical school in Aleppo, Razay moved to England where language barriers and registration hurdles nearly derailed his career.
A professor’s intervention allowed him to sit medical examinations, launching his path to becoming a specialist physician.
Razay arrived in Tasmania in the 1990s, establishing himself as a geriatrician at Launceston General Hospital where he founded the memory disorders clinic and conducted groundbreaking dementia research over 28 years.
His research team discovered that normal pressure hydrocephalus – a treatable brain condition – affects up to 15 per cent of dementia cases, significantly higher than previously thought.
“We showed that the shunt improved their memory, balance and walking and their incontinence and prevent them from going to nursing home,” he said.
Razay credited his late father’s savings of £1,000 for enabling his English adventure, and thanked his wife Melissa and daughter Emily for encouraging his political career.
“Throughout my career, I faced many challenges and obstacles. I always kept positive and hopeful,” he concluded, before delivering the ancient prayer.
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