Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I join with the Prime Minister and other members in offering my condolences to the family and friends of the 15 innocent people who were shot to death at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025 because they were Jewish. I would also like to give my deep thanks and pay tribute to the police, paramedics, health workers, surf lifesavers and brave members of the public who responded immediately to the Bondi terror attack. Many ran towards the danger, to save lives and to disrupt the killers, in acts of humanity and courage which we will always remember. We all hope we would be able to show such bravery if ever called upon. Survivors of the shooting will be forever traumatised, physically and psychologically. The ripples of such trauma will affect so many people for a very long time, likely forever. Families and friends of the dead will never be the same. Australia won't be the same. I think the grief is boundless.

Wielding guns, two violent men with a hatred of Jews carried out these terrorist murders in an act of evil that is hard to imagine, yet many in the Jewish community feared that this is exactly what could happen as antisemitic words, acts and violent attacks increased in Australia over recent years. The killing of Jews attending a peaceful beach-side Hanukkah celebration is our nation's worst terrorist attack and the worst attack on Jewish people anywhere in the world since the horrific attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel on 7 October 2023. The mass murder at Bondi Beach is not only a tragedy; it is much more than that. It is an outrage and an affront to the Jewish community and to all of us. The two murderous men were driven by homegrown hate—a hatred of Jewish people and the state of Israel. This antisemitic hate flourished here at home, in Australia, and the murderers pursued their hate unhindered until ordinary people put themselves in the firing line and died to save others at dusk on 14 December.

I believe we need to undertake a serious period of self-reflection, both individually and collectively, on how our communities and institutions can better stand against hate and racism—parliament, of course, but also all of the organisations within which we work to progress political agendas, and other organisations and agencies that operate in civil society. What could we and the institutions we work with and within do to better promote pluralistic values to ensure there is greater understanding of the strength in diversity? How can we better stand up for the Australian values of fairness, inclusion and openness, which also must include calling out comments and actions that spread hate against our Jewish community?

Words have meaning, and now there are so many platforms to share words that hold and promote hate. I think we should think of some of those words and phrases and social media posts and slogans on banners at protests as if they are the bricks thrown through the shop windows and the fire bombs thrown at synagogues, all seeking to terrify and intimidate Jewish people. Jewish people must be safe in Australia. There cannot be a false equivalence drawn between difficult and emotive political and policy challenges and our obligation to call out the antisemites among us. That has always been the case, but it is even more pressing now in the aftermath of the mass-murder of innocent Jewish people at Bondi Beach.

We must always remember that a 10-year-old girl called Matilda was shot in a park by the beach for being a Jew. This will be to our eternal shame, and we must never forget. It should tell us something about the longevity and depth of antisemitism in this country that, year after year, we keep building up security around Jewish schools and synagogues and meeting places. Because of the risk to their lives, this effort must continue, but if we don't identify and address the underlying causes of the hatred, and put a stop to their proliferation, we condemn our Jewish communities to always being separate and not being safe. That's not fair, and that is not the Australia we love.

There have been mistakes and missteps. I have made mistakes and missteps. The days and years behind us cannot be changed, but the days before us are yet to be written, and what we do next as individuals and as a nation will be of vital importance to Australia's future as a country of peace that welcomes diversity and rejects entirely the hatred of Jewish people—indeed, an Australia that rejects hatred entirely. I conclude where I began, by expressing my deep sorrow and condolences to the friends and families of all those who were killed and injured on one of the darkest days in Australia's history. I thank the House.

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