Nicolette Boele (Bradfield, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today with an aching heart. On 14 December our nation was shaken by the horrific terror attack at Bondi, where 15 innocent people lost their lives. Most were members of our Jewish community. They were targeted not for anything that they'd done but for who they were—for the faith that they carried in their hearts and for their identity, passed down through generations. Today we honour their memory. I honour the lives stolen too soon, the families forever changed and the communities left to grieve the unimaginable loss. I extend my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those who were killed, to those who were injured and to all who will continue to carry the trauma of that day five weeks ago.

Bradfield is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in New South Wales. It includes four synagogues, Masada College and families whose roots in Australia stretch back generations. It's a community that contributes profoundly to our civic, cultural and moral life. On the first Friday after 14 December, I was invited to and attended a service at one of the synagogues in Bradfield. It was the words of its rabbi that moved me beyond words. The rabbi spoke of one of her community, a boy, who on the following morning, the Sabbath, was to complete his months of study by reading from the Torah, leading prayers and delivering his speech, culminating in his bar mitzvah, his transition to religious manhood. What is already a very profound rite of passage for a young Jewish person should have been pure joy, but in this moment it was tempered instead with yet another level of gravitas. The Rabbi spoke, among other things, of the symbolism of this young man, a young, proud Jew, as the steward of traditions and culture from generations before to the generations to come. The Rabbi spoke in general terms about him being the embodiment of resilience and resolve, which are needed more than ever in the wake of the hate crimes the Sunday before, not just for himself and his family but for his whole community and the next generation of Jewish Australians.

This is a profound responsibility, and it can't sit with him alone. It calls on the rest of us, as a community, to stand alongside him, to protect what he carries and to ensure that resilience is shared. As a lifelong Australian, I'm deeply saddened that a country known for tolerance and fairness is now wrestling with rising division and hatred. This attack was an act of terror. It sought to use violence to frighten and divide. Jewish Aussies are Australians. They're citizens, they're neighbours and they're great contributors to our shared national life.

Condolence alone is not enough. Grief must be matched with resolve, and tomorrow here in this place we will consider laws aimed at combating antisemitism and hate more broadly. What we must do is remember the faces, the names and the lives behind those in this discussion: Matilda, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Boris Tetleroyd, Boris Gurman, Sofia Gurman, Reuven Morrison, Edith Brutman, Marika Pogany, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Peter Meagher, Tibor Weitzen, Alexander Kleytman, Dan Elkayam, Tania Tretiak, Adam Smyth. We must legislate not out of fear or for politics but out of moral responsibility to ensure no community in Australia ever feels unsafe because of their faith or their identity.

Today we stand in solidarity with the Jewish communities of Bradfield, of New South Wales and of Australia. We stand against hatred, against violence and against the slow erosion of the tolerance that defines us when we're at our best. May the memories of those lost on 14 December be a blessing. May the families find comfort in the love that surrounds them. And may this parliament honour them not only in words but with action worthy of their memory.

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