Rebecca White (Lyons, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on the motion before the House and echo many of the sentiments already expressed by fellow members. Like members across this chamber, I want to honour the memory of the 15 innocent people who were killed in that violent antisemitic attack of 14 December. I acknowledge the injuries physical and psychological suffered by many others and extend my support to their families, friends and colleagues, whose lives have been permanently altered. I pay tribute to the first responders and medical staff who acted with professionalism and courage in circumstances no-one should have to face. And I recognise the acts of heroism and bravery, big and small, from ordinary people who put themselves in danger to help others.

Events is like these stop us in our tracks. They intrude into ordinary life and remind us how suddenly the safety so many of us take for granted can be taken away. For many Australians, Bondi is not an abstract place. For some it's home. It's where they work, send their kids to school and spend time with friends and family. It's where they celebrate religious holidays. For others it's an icon, one of the most recognisable symbols of what it means to live in Australia. That familiarity and symbolism is part of what makes the attack so confronting. The other part, of course, is the fact that the perpetrators deliberately targeted Jewish Australians, a people who have suffered so much already and who are now once again forced to carry fear and grief simultaneously. The sheer cruelty of what those men did—the calculated evil, the unthinkable targeting of Australia's Jewish community, who were peacefully celebrating together—has left a deep impression on the soul of our country. On behalf of all my constituents in Lyons, I extend our condolences to the Jewish community, to the people of Bondi and to everyone affected.

For Tasmanians and especially for people in my electorate, this tragedy carries a particular weight. Almost 30 years ago, Port Arthur became synonymous with grief—a grief no community ever expects to carry. For so many, the events of 28 April 1996 are not confined to history books or anniversaries. They shape the community to this day. They surface in quiet moments, and they return sharply when another act of violence occurs elsewhere in the country. I want to acknowledge that there are many in my electorate for whom this moment has reopened painful memories. Port Arthur also shaped how Australia understands its responsibilities after tragedy. In the aftermath, our nation made decisions that were difficult and at times contested but guided by a clear principle that the safety of the community must come first. And our elected leaders stood side by side, unified in their determination to make change, and together they led our community through one of its darkest times. Those decisions did not erase loss or numb the pain. What they did was reflect a collective willingness to do our best to protect against such a horror happening again and to come together and heal.

In those dark moments of 14 December, we watched events unfolding with dread and a sharp pain in our chest as we came to understand that another heartbreaking tragedy was playing out on our soil. The lessons from Port Arthur remind us that if we are to truly honour a loss as profound as what we experienced at Bondi, then there are obligations imposed upon us as a nation. We must listen carefully to those who are hurting. We must respond with compassion and urgency to provide care and assistance. We must take tangible steps to further improve the safety of our community and eradicate hate. And we must never allow the passage of time to dull the memory of what occurred. For the families affected by the Bondi attack, the coming weeks and months will be as hard as those first days of grief. Support will be needed long after headlines disappear. The reason for this is well understood in communities like mine, where recovery has been measured not in weeks, months or years but in decades.

Through this condolence motion, we honour those who were killed at Bondi and we extend our sympathy to all those who've been affected. We affirm our support for the Bondi community and for all Jewish Australians, not just today but in the weeks, months and years to come. We affirm that violence of the kind we saw in Bondi, and the antisemitic thinking that lay behind it, is not something we will ever accept or allow to be normalised in Australian society. We acknowledge that confronting antisemitism requires more than condemnation in moments of crisis. It requires vigilance, leadership and a willingness to do whatever it takes to stamp it out wherever and whenever it appears. We reaffirm, with sincerity, our commitment to a safer and more compassionate Australia.

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