Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to say something on behalf of the community that I am so proud to represent in this chamber. I represent one of the most multicultural parts of the most successful multicultural country in the world. My community is made up of 200,000 stories and journeys to Australia. Respect, tolerance and love are part of everyday life on the streets of Hotham. Within that melting pot we have a deeply cherished and deeply loved Jewish-Australian community, who I want to speak to today. On behalf of Hotham's 200,000 residents, and personally from myself and my family, I express the deepest sorrow for what happened on 14 December. This was an attack at Bondi Beach, one of the most iconic places in our entire country, but it was an attack on every Australian of Jewish descent. And it was an attack on all of us—on our national identity and the safety and security of every single person who lives in this country.

Our local Jewish community have shown me and my family extraordinary warmth and kindness. I am lucky to have two beautiful Chabads in my electorate, the Chabad Carnegie and the Chabad Bentleigh, led by Rabbi Engel, Rabbi Raskin and Rabbi Shimon. Last year, my family got the opportunity to join with these communities to celebrate Hanukkah. It was the most beautiful afternoon. We gathered together in Packer Park in my community. It was a beautiful, warm Melbourne day. There were rides for children, there was delicious food for everyone to share and I can remember that this afternoon was marked by the squealing of delight of hundreds of children who had come to celebrate this special occasion for the community.

So much has changed since that day. This year, no public event could be held in my community. Hanukkah was celebrated in a tiny community hall which was heavily patrolled by Australian Federal Police. This is not the promise of multiculturalism in our country being fulfilled. We live in a nation today where Jewish-Australian parents are asking their children to change out of school uniforms so they don't have to take public transport home with visible signs of their religion. We have kindergarten parents taking their children out of formal education because they don't feel that they can keep them safe. This is categorically and undeniably wrong. We need to tackle the causes of it, and I hope that we are able to do it together.

I've been very privileged to be able to share in the grieving process that my community has been going through since December, and, honestly, I have learned so much that I didn't fully understand about Judaism before this attack. I have seen extraordinary things—a community faced with hatred and anger that came together immediately afterwards with so much love, so much resilience and an unbreakable sense of faith and family. I've seen a community confront the horrible pain of what is happening to them, not by trying to push it away or shield themselves from it but by living through it and feeling it together as a community, openly and honestly. And I've seen a community fill what is such a dark, dark space with love and light, singing together, praying together and choosing connection over fear.

Bondi is a watershed moment for our country. It is a moment of darkness that can never be repeated, and it has also created so many moments of lightness and hope. I am speaking of the truly extraordinary and quintessentially Australian acts of bravery that we saw on that day. When I think about Bondi, I'm not just going to remember the horrible acts of violence and hatred that were perpetrated; I'm going to think about Boris and Sofia Gurman, who fought the attackers in the first moments, sacrificing their safety for others. I'm going to think about Ahmed al-Ahmed, who crept up on the gunman, wrestling the gun out of his hands, saving countless Australian lives. I am going to think of the image of Jackson Doolan running barefoot from Tamarama out to Bondi Beach to see what he could do to help. And I'll will think of Reuven Morrison, who fought the attacker with whatever he had.

I will think especially of Jessica Rosen, who in the tumult of violence could not find her little three-year-old girl, who she had taken to Hanukkah. But she saw another child that had been separated from her parents, and she threw herself on a child she'd never seen before, and she protected her throughout the attack. That alone is an incredible act of heroism, but you can hear the audio online of the two talking to each other throughout the attack, and it's the most extraordinary audio. The little girl says to her, 'Can we hide?' And the way that Jessica is able to comfort this child she has never met before in a moment of sheer terror is something I will never forget. Jessica was interviewed afterwards, and she says, 'I'm just a mum, and I just did what mums do.' Well, Jess, you are not just a mum. You are an Australian hero, and you and people like you have given our country hope in one of our darkest hours. We thank you, and we honour you today.

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