Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Most Australians wouldn't have heard of the Chabad movement before 14 December, but the philosophy of the Chabad movement is one that sends missionaries to bring Judaism to Jewish people in all corners of the world, to enrich Jewish life and to make it easy to experience Jewish life wherever they are. You may not realise it, but there is something beautiful and something completely opposite about Chabad holding an ancient festival celebrating Hanukkah, which is about the oil that was found after the destruction of the temple, on one of the most iconic beaches in Australia, synonymous with sunbaking and hanging out with friends. That is what Chabad does; it brings Judaism to all different corners of the world and embeds it in the society that is there.

The Jewish community in Sydney is, just like all other Chabad communities, rich because of the effort that is put in to make Jewish life beautiful and celebratory, filled with mitzvahs and good deeds. That's what was going on on 14 December. The driving force behind Chabad at Bondi was Rabbi Eli Schlanger. I was privileged to attend his funeral, and even at his funeral he was raised as someone who brought Judaism not just to the community of Bondi but to prisoners and to people who otherwise would be out of reach. He did so because he wanted to enrich their lives.

We are taking this moment in this House to appreciate the beauty that in Australia you can have one of the most iconic and modern and beautiful beaches embedded with an ancient tradition filled with people who just wanted to feel a part of their own history and spirituality. That was the target. I remember, on the evening of 14 December, I was driving home, and my phone rang. It was one of my staff, who was born in Sydney. She said: 'There are shots being fired on Bondi, and we think it's near the Hanukkah celebration. The WhatsApp groups are growing crazy.' At that moment, I knew I had to make calls to my colleagues and to the Prime Minister's office, but my first instinct was my daughter, because she was on her way to the Melbourne Hanukkah event. That's what Jewish life in Australia unfortunately has become. You think: 'What about my own family? What are they going to be? Are they going to be safe?' Thankfully my mum hadn't gone yet, but, tragically, my community in Sydney suffered the most unimaginable pain.

I had the privilege of speaking to Josh and Shaina Goodnick, who spoke of Shaina's incredible father, Reuven. In our conversations, we spoke about the bravery of Reuven. One of the things that stuck with me—forgive me for sharing our private conversations, but this is one of the things that stuck with me that I think is worth mentioning—is that Josh and Shaina were imagining what his thoughts may have been in that moment when he decided to confront the terrorists. The answer that they gave was, 'How dare they?' How dare they come to our community? How dare they come to my community? What a brave and incredible person to pick up whatever they could to try and protect their community.

For Jewish Australians, this country means so much. For my family, this country means so much. For our community, this country means everything. It has been a safe haven for our community and a safe haven for our people who fled persecution and dehumanisation. I tried to think about what must have been going through the gunmen's heads when they were looking down upon the community, seeing innocent people. What are they looking at? What do they think of us? What do they think of me? What do people think of the Jewish people here in Australia? I am proud of my community, and our community are a proud people. We belong here, and we must not dehumanise one another. As my beautiful new daughter cries, forgive me; she'll calm down, hopefully. I've changed my train of thought here. I think that will happen over the next few months. We must not dehumanise each other, because dehumanisation is what leads to exactly what happened in Bondi. Not every act of hate ends in violence, but every act of violence begins with hate.

I say to my colleagues here in this place that Jewish life was absolutely shattered in Bondi. People have questioned their place in this country, but the way we honour the victims of the Bondi massacre and the Bondi terrorist attack is not just by honouring the incredible bravery, selflessness and proud nature of people celebrating an ancient religious tradition in a modern iconic part of this country but also by ensuring that the everyday life of Jewish Australians and the people in our community is not one where you have to walk past security guards when just going about your business, or worry about whether your family is safe when celebrating your culture. Can we live this life, in this country, in the safe haven that was promised?

I want to finish by saying that there will be a lot of work to be done but today is about recognising those people who were Australians and who paid the ultimate price just for participating in Jewish life in Australia. They were targeted because they were Jewish. History, for too long, has taken people because of that exact reason, but how a country responds defines a country. When synagogues were burnt down, Australia decided that we were going to rebuild them. That is the appropriate thing to do. When people are attacked, we need to create stronger laws to ensure the appropriate response to that sort of hate and vilification. Right now, we also have a group of people who are desperate to be stood by and have Australians stand with them. To every single Australian who has lit a candle or checked in on a Jewish community member, friend or colleague, I say thank you, because how a country responds matters. To all the victims and to my community, this is our home and this is our country. To the families, I wish you a long life. To the victims: zichronam livracha—may their memories be a blessing.

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