Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with all members of parliament, and all the Territorians that I am fortunate to represent with my colleagues the member for Lingiari and the NT senator Malarndirri McCarthy, to express our sympathies to the family and friends of those murdered—those 15 Australians who were killed—and to all of those who were injured in the horrific ISIS-inspired antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi. This was an attack on Jewish Australians, which means that it was an attack on all Territorians and all Australians. This is about all of us, and all of us have a responsibility to act.

In the days after the massacre, I visited Bondi to pass on the solidarity of Territorians and to thank first responders. I also visited and thanked members, veterans and volunteers at the North Bondi RSL. That is something that I did personally, to thank not only them but also people that were there, from government and non-government organisations, who were actively supporting members of the community, right there and then, out of the North Bondi RSL club.

During and after the terrorist attack at Bondi, the doors of the North Bondi RSL club stayed open. Veterans, staff and volunteers moved quickly to help, providing first aid to the injured, giving refuge to people fleeing the shooting and supporting the police, ambulance officers and others working at the scene. The kitchen at the RSL stayed open as well. They were pumping out pizzas and making sure that first responders were fed late into the night. This was local veterans and RSL volunteers backing their local civilian community in a moment of real fear and trauma, and they have continued to do that work in the days and weeks since.

Quite organically, the North Bondi RSL became—they established—a support coordination hub. I attended a multi-agency coordination meeting there with Matt Thistlethwaite, the member for Kingsford Smith, alongside New South Wales government agencies and members of national NGOs—including social workers who were operating out of the RSL, going out into the community and spending time providing mental health first aid to members of the community. It is a clear example of the capacity of veterans to make order out of chaos and to provide local leadership when it counts. It also shows, to my mind, the great strength of RSL sub-branches, other ex-service organisations and organisations like the surf lifesaving clubs that step up in times of need as local coordinators for collective, service oriented action. I want to thank the Governor-General for visiting the veterans and volunteers at North Bondi RSL not once but twice.

Today I was honoured to attend an event put on by the member for Kingsford Smith recognising some of the surf lifesavers who responded to the tragedy. It was a great privilege to meet Mouse and Beardy—those are their nicknames—who were there at the time of this massacre. The contribution of first responders and surf lifesavers was personified by the photo of the lifesaver from Tamarama running barefoot to assist. Australia owes them and all first responders a deep debt of gratitude, and that includes those who were merely there that day who responded first, putting their lives in jeopardy for the lives of other Australians and visitors—other humans.

I've also been speaking with local Jewish community members of the Northern Territory, along with leaders of other religious groups, to express my sympathies and our family's solidarity and support and to say clearly that we recognise the profound loss that this attack on Jewish Australians has caused for their community but also for all Australians. I acknowledge the NT Jewish Community Association's role in providing leadership and support to local Jewish people in our community in the Top End of the Northern Territory. Recognising that our federal parliament has been recalled to deal with one of the most serious responsibilities that any government has—and that is to keep Australians safe—I will be working with colleagues from all sides of politics, because moments like this demand cooperation and a sense of national unity. In that vein, I look forward to working with the Northern Territory government in a constructive and collegial way to keep Territorians safe.

Finally, I acknowledge and thank our police—the police that responded at Bondi and the police that keep our communities safe. I stand in solidarity with them because, when the shooting starts, it falls to them to defend the public and neutralise the threat. All honourable members of this place and the other place and all state and territory legislators should remember that. It is the police, and they are the ones we need to back, as well as our beloved Jewish community that our hearts go out to.

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