Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the condolence motion for the victims of the Bondi antisemitic terrorist attack on 14 December last year. Most of us are going to remember where we were when the news reports of this horrific attack began to filter through our televisions and our devices. My wife, Alex, and I were spending the evening with our daughter, Jessica, who had turned 18 the day before. I can remember Alex's comment, in disbelief, as we saw the disturbing images: 'Is this really happening in Australia?' She asked this as, in this country that we both grew up in, these were images we associated with other countries far away, not our country. This simply doesn't happen in Australia.

Then we heard that a 10-year-old girl, Matilda, was one of the 15 victims. We reflected that, unlike our daughter, Matilda would not get to celebrate her 18th birthday. Her parents, Michael and Valentyna, will not have the joy of seeing her graduate, get married, have children and achieve whatever career path Matilda would have chosen. They have been deprived of so much. As a dad, my heart goes out to you. I can't imagine how you are feeling right now and the pain that you're in.

This senseless attack was driven by Islamic extremism and was one of the darkest days in the history of a country that has prided itself on its multicultural diversity and its historical culture of accepting people from all nations and from different cultures and faiths. As is the case with many things in life, the greatest strengths of an individual community or country can also be their greatest weaknesses. One of the beauties and most celebrated attributes of Australian culture has always been our 'she'll be right' attitude. This is a quintessential Australian way. I have no doubt it has contributed to our largely peaceful history compared to many nations. I'm also sure it has contributed to our No. 5 ranking in the longest life expectancy, as we know stress is a killer.

But the detriment of this attitude, apathy, can also come with a price. We've seen it for years in health. Australians, particularly men, are too slow to see a doctor about a suspicious lump, skin blemish or pain in their body that ends up being a tumour that has metastasised, or a melanoma caught too late. This is despite the warnings of so many, including family members and members of medical community imploring us to catch these conditions early, as the survival rate of those who have early intervention is greatly increased.

So it is with this recent tragedy. As with cancer, I believe this could have been avoided with early intervention. This horrific event was the culmination of over two years of ignoring the pleas of so many in the Jewish community and the security experts who warned that this cancer of antisemitism was growing and spreading across our nation. Tragically, these warnings were largely ignored. Just as when warnings are ignored with health conditions like cancer, deaths often result. Like we are with cancer, we must be ruthless in the way we deal with extreme, radical, violent Islam and all forms of antisemitism, cutting it out before it can take hold. The warnings of those who know best must be heard and acted upon. There is no place for apathy with regard to serious matters like these. Our very presence here today shows the price we pay when we ignore the warnings.

To the families of the victims, the entire Jewish community and everyone else who has been affected by this horrific terror attack, I want to apologise to you for letting you down and for my own apathy. I'm one of the many who will have to live with questions like: 'What if I had spoken out more? Could this have been avoided?' There will also be those who had the power to act, either through not ignoring warning signs, not creating laws and legislation, or ignoring words that were spoken that were hateful and un-Australian. It will be up to each individual to judge what part they could have played, if any, in possibly preventing this tragedy. That is not for me or anyone else to do; let every man and woman be a judge of their own conscience.

We now owe it to the families of all the victims to ensure this type of attack never happens again on Australian shores. But I implore this parliament to take its time to get this right. Decisions made when emotions are raw are well-meaning but rarely good decisions. Good leadership resists the urge to simply appease a public rightfully crying out for justice by acting hastily, in favour of well-thought-out and effective legislation that actually works. We need to get this right and we need to make sure that the lives lost and impacted by the events of 14 December 2025 are not in vain.

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