Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

Telling our personal stories today on National Flag Day, it is important to remind us of what our flag represents. Patriotism is not a fixed idea. This is where my story interweaves with the flag:

Amongst the dust and rubble of the Marriott Hotel World Trade Centre, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, lay an Australian flag, damaged and torn. The Marriot Hotel nestled beneath the towers was where I was destined to be the morning of 11 September 2001, until my destiny changed when my trip to New York was cancelled the week prior.

On September 3 we celebrate National Flag Day. But on September 11, we mourn the 2,977 lives lost in the terrorist attacks, including 10 Australians and 40 people in the Marriott Hotel. That Australian flag from Ground Zero … serves as an enduring reminder of the tragedy we shared with our ally, partner, and friend, and of our resoluteness to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in even the most difficult of circumstances.

Today, the story of this flag is little known, yet its existence is deeply symbolic. As a patriotic Australian, I know we are strongest when we stand with our friends … It should not take a major world event to remind us of how important our relationship is with like-minded democracies—why we have it, and the generations of custodians who have protected it—

so that it may endure.

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