By Jai Bharadwaj and Amit Sarwal
As Australia’s Indian Hindu community prepares to celebrate the festival of Holi, the SMVS Swaminarayan Temple in Tarneit, Victoria, has once again been targeted by thugs.
This marks the eighth such incident in the last eight years raising concerns over the safety of Hindu religious institutions in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Located 26 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD, the temple serves as a spiritual and cultural hub for hundreds of Hindu devotees who gather every weekend to offer prayers to Lord Swaminarayan. However, their sense of security was once again shattered when a temple administrator was notified on his mobile phone that the temple is being robbed.
Temple trustee Biren Joshi expressed deep frustration over the continuous targeting of the temple.
“This is not the first time.”
Earlier in 2018 after a vandal attack, the local Hindu community pooled resources to install CCTV cameras to deter criminals. However, vandals not only smashed the cameras but also destroyed property inside the temple, including a television.
Temple administration claims that despite repeatedly reporting incidents to the police, there have been no arrests made in connection with any of the attacks.
In 2020, recognising the growing threat to places of worship, Jason Wood, who was then Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs, committed $2.7 million in funding for Hindu and Sikh temples as part of the ‘Safer Communities Fund’. This initiative included financial support for security infrastructure such as fencing, gates, and CCTV cameras.
Victoria’s Labor MP Sarah Connolly announced a $144,687 grant for the SMVS Swaminarayan Temple in Tarneit under the Community Safety Infrastructure Fund. The funding aimed to improve security by installing lighting and upgrading the children’s play area to help deter vandalism. Connolly also praised the temple’s welcoming community and its contributions to the local Gujarati culture.
Despite the much-nneded funding, the continuous attacks and vandalism of Hindu religious institutions sparked political controversy in 2022. In fact, a report by The Australia Today was cited in the Federal Parliament, where Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Liberal MP Jason Wood, accused the Albanese government of failing to support multicultural communities by cutting $50 million in ‘Safer Community Grants’ previously allocated by the Morrison government.
Wood also criticised Labor MP for Lalor, Joanne Ryan, alleging that she had failed to visit a Hindu temple in Tarneit despite multiple attacks. Ryan refuted the claims, citing an Australia Today article confirming she had visited the temple at least twice, including for a Diwali event in 2021.
Despite the funding, Hindu community leaders remain sceptical about long-term protection of temple. They stress that bureaucratic hurdles must be removed to ensure that places of worship can access security support without political intervention.
“Every time a religious place faces vandalism, it shatters the sense of safety and puts the whole community under stress,” Joshi said.
“Our community should not have to fight so hard for basic security.”
While CCTV cameras finally helped capture footage of vandals during the latest attack on 15 March 2025, temple leaders insist that authorities, especially Victorian government and police, must do more to prevent such incidents rather than reacting after the damage is done.
NOTE: The Australia Today has reached out to concerned authorities including Victoria Police for an update on security measures in Victoria.
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