Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

For the families and loved ones of those 15 people who lost their lives in this horrific antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach, no words can ever be enough. We've been honoured by those who found the strength to come to Canberra and observe today's parliamentary condolence motion. The searing grief and pain does not pass quickly when you lose someone you dearly love. Grief is personal. It comes in waves and ebbs and flows as it does its work over time. But grief is magnified, in these circumstances, beyond what most of us will ever have to bear—the violent murder of loved ones, made worse because it was not random. It was terror, targeted at people simply because they were Jewish. Our hearts also go out to those who survived but who endured unimaginable scenes of horror—trauma which will stay with them but not define them.

The worst ever terrorist attack on Australian soil was designed to spread fear and division, with maximum impact at the iconic Bondi Beach, a place globally renowned, showcasing the best of Australia's egalitarian nature—a place where generations of Jewish Australians had gathered to be and celebrate together, including, as we heard earlier, generations of the member for Macarthur's family. 14 December saw the very worst of humanity—evil, hate and murder—but also the best of Australia: love, courage, sacrifice and solidarity. The Prime Minister and other speakers have spoken of the remarkable acts of courage that Australians witnessed: first responders whose work saved lives; victims and heroes who risked and, in some cases, sacrificed their own lives to save the lives of others; Boris and Sofia Gurman, who were killed; Reuven Morrison, who was killed; and Ahmed al-Ahmed, a true Muslim, unlike the cowards who murdered the innocent.

Australians in my community and across our continent have been utterly horrified by this terrorist attack. It is to our nation's abiding shame that, in the very moment when Jewish Australians should have been safe, celebrating Hanukkah on the beach—an ancient tradition of light over darkness—they were not. This was even more poignantly so because amongst those murdered was Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, who found refuge and shelter in Australia from the horrors of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

14 December was also, for many Australians, a grievous loss of national innocence. We've prided ourselves on the fact that we don't do guns, we don't do mass shootings and we don't do intercommunal violence in Australia. Things like that happen elsewhere—on TV, not here. Yet a toxic mix of antisemitism and ISIS inspired violent extremism fuelled this attack.

As others have observed, though, extremism in all its forms is the enemy, including right-wing nationalist Nazis. The very fact that we have to say Nazis in 2025 is abhorrent. Australia failed those 15 people who were killed and also the Jewish community more broadly. We must now confront why and how, and do everything within our power, as a nation, to ensure this never happens again. An attack on any Australian because they are Jewish is an attack on Australia itself—on the very idea and the reality of modern Australia. The promise of modern Australia is the great Australian promise of a fair ago—that everyone gets a fair crack at life here and is welcome, safe and belongs, no matter their identity. In return, Australians expect people to commit to Australia, our democratic system of government, our institutions and our values. They expect them to accept the Australian covenant that all citizens and those welcomed here must accept—that people leave their hatreds and prejudices at the border and recognise the strength that is our diversity and the spirit of mutual respect. For Jewish Australians this covenant has been broken and must be repaired. The ancient scourge of antisemitism must be confronted.

Last week I shared tea with a Jewish constituent who illustrated it like this: everyone knows those bushfire danger ratings signs with the big arrows that sit at the side of the road. They rate the daily fire danger from 'low' to 'catastrophic'. The reality for Jews today is that when they leave their house, when they are visible or when they are gathered together, they are always quietly rating the danger, and it's not low. The risk is made visible by the shamefully necessary spread of security fences, measures and guards at Jewish places. But the silent calculation of danger is always done. As an aside—not to claim equivalence or create a binary—the sad reality is that this danger calculation is one that Muslim women and others in my electorate make every day, too. However, that's a speech for another time.

Terrorists seek to spread fear and divide us so that we turn on each other. We mustn't let them prevail. Put simply, social cohesion is how we live well together, how we treat one another, how we debate our differences and how we share a sense of fairness, even when we disagree. Social cohesion means respect, participation, belonging, trust and shared responsibility. If we confront antisemitism effectively and renew the Australian covenant, then we make life better and safer for all Australians—for every single one of us today, for all our kids and for all those who come after us.

Tomorrow the parliament has important legislation to pass. As the Prime Minister said, the terrorists come with hatred and bigotry in their hearts and guns in their hands, and so we must respond to both the motive and the method. Let's hope that those opposite can put love of country, love of Australia, over their hatred of each other and come together in national unity, as Australians deserve in the face of terror.

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