Perth’s $1.4 billion football stadium will include expanded prayer room facilities from those at Domain Stadium which have been rarely used.
Former Victorian premier and Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has branded three prayer rooms being built at Burswood — to include washing facilities, a shoe rack and bookshelf — as unnecessary and overly politically correct.
But former Ethnic Communities Council president Suresh Rajan said the facilities would help Muslim youths at risk of being radicalised feel part of mainstream Australian society.
New Perth Stadium will have expanded prayer room facilities. Illustration: Government of WA
In 2012 the AFL asked all its venues to provide a private, clean room for fans or players to pray on match day after a request from Richmond’s Bachar Houli, a Muslim and one of the league’s cultural ambassadors.
Domain Stadium made office space available for patrons near the oval’s administration area, as well as a separate player facility that is understood to have so far been used only by Houli. [THE WEST AUSTRALIAN] Read more
