Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The events around the siege of the Lindt cafe in Sydney's Martin Place on 15 and 16 December last year were indescribably tragic. In rising to speak on this important motion, may I extend my deepest and heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson for their tragic loss, and may I also associate myself with the remarks of the Prime Minister and of other members who have spoken so far in this place in honouring their lives.

In remember Katrina and Tori, we also remember those who demonstrated such courage in the Lindt cafe. The men and women who were held would truly have undergone a life-changing experience that all of us here would find quite tough to comprehend, let alone to process. It is thanks to our law enforcement and security agencies and emergency services personnel that this difficult and dangerous situation was not made worse, and I thank them. The courage and focus of all those involved in this most difficult of scenarios is to be commended. This was an act of terror we hoped would never occur in this country, and it is a sobering reminder that the threats we hear about beyond our shores can strike here.

But tonight I rise on behalf of my community as the member for Robertson to speak in honour of one of our own. Tori Johnson is a former student at Terrigal High School, and I know that there are many in my community who have been touched and changed personally by this tragedy because they were touched and forever changed for the better because they were lucky enough to know Tori.

In the aftermath of this testing day for our country, many people from the Central Coast community gathered at Martin Place in Sydney, where the steadfast response of Australians to this tragedy was so clear and so beautiful. The sight of thousands and thousands of flowers and petals side by side in unity of grief at this awful event certainly moved me deeply, as I know it did millions of others. Locally, another impromptu memorial with messages and flowers was also set up in Terrigal, where people in the community could sign a tribute book. It was set up by a local resident, Jordyn Steel. Ms Steel told our local newspaper, the Central Coast Express Advocate, that just an hour after she put the book at the war memorial at Terrigal there was a handwritten message from a child which simply read, 'I prayed for you.'

In Terrigal, former schoolmates of Tori Johnson have since described him as a sensitive, strong and loyal friend who always put others' needs above his own, and I think that was demonstrated on that day. He was part of the class of 1998, which I understand is a very tight-knit group of friends on the Central Coast. Others who knew him, and those who knew his family, spoke movingly and sincerely about his talent, his artistic nature and the fact that he was a good listener to all those he talked with. They described him as a very loving man, as perfect and as a loving son. It came out a number of times that Tori was a very, very loving son. He loved gardening, because he loved nature and creativity. He was often seen in the gardens of people's homes on the Central Coast, gardening, doing what he loved and being with his family.

These are all wonderful, timeless, honourable traits of a man lost far too soon. May his legacy and his love of life, of people, of friends, of family, of nature and of the beautiful country in which we live be an enduring reminder of all that we can be and, indeed, all that we are as individuals, as a community and as Australians. I commend this motion to the House.

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