Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

on indulgence—Today we pause as a parliament to mark a loss beyond words, a tragedy beyond comprehension and an unfairness beyond understanding. What happened at Greta in the Hunter Valley was a cruel end to what should have been one of the happiest of days. We all know that joy of going to a wedding, and so many of us know that feeling of getting on a bus with fellow guests, partly as a chance to share the excitement but partly because the bride and groom organised that in order to keep their guests safe. We know that feeling of getting together with friends and family to celebrate the happy couple—to celebrate the love between two people and their declaration of spending a lifetime together and around those friends and family, gathering around them and holding them at the heart of what is their local community. A wedding is about both the seriousness and the joy of commitment. It's about a beautiful new beginning, and every wedding is filled with such a sense of possibility about the future. It makes what happened on Sunday night all the more cruel.

We hold on to the memory of all those whose lives were tragically cut short. Our hearts go out to all the survivors and to all the loved ones who now have this most terrible of burdens. Our thoughts and love are with the newlyweds, who will never know the easy joy of an anniversary. May everyone around them somehow find a way to lift them up. We think, too, of the tight-knit community that is the Hunter. They are hurting so badly right now.

I do want, on behalf of the parliament, to give our thanks to the first responders. We again have been reminded by those who arrived at this terrible scene that we cannot imagine what they were confronted with or what they had to deal with, but, as they always do, they did their job. They did their best looking after people, trying to save lives and to assist in the recovery at what was clearly just a horrific scene. So to them but, as well, to those who continued to assist in the following hours and days—the doctors and nurses, the police and emergency services, those who transported the injured to the hospital, the counsellors and those on Lifeline who undoubtedly have received so many calls from people affected by this tragedy—I say, once again, thank you.

I also say thank you to those people who will continue to assist in the days, weeks, months and years ahead. The hard truth is that the mental and emotional scars of this will not fade with time. They will live with people forever. We have a responsibility to make sure that, when the spotlight leaves, the care doesn't, for the people who have witnessed this and for the people who have experienced this tragedy firsthand.

To everyone who has been touched by this tragedy: I do want you to know that Australia wraps our arms around you. Australians' hopes and Australians' prayers are with you at what is an extraordinarily difficult and traumatic time for our community.

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