Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

Her name is a song as poignant and stirring as our national anthem. She was her parents' first Australian. She's the little girl in every home across our country. She is the heartbreak in all our hearts. She is 10-year-old Matilda. She is one of 15 innocent people murdered in the terror attack in Bondi, an act of senseless, unimaginable violence. In a place known for openness, beauty and belonging, lives were stolen in moments of terror, leaving families shattered, communities grieving and a nation struggling to comprehend how radical Islamic terrorism could erupt in the heart of everyday Australian life.

Behind every one of the 15 lives lost was a person whose story mattered deeply. Among them were parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, volunteers who delivered meals to the vulnerable, musicians whose creativity enriched their communities, people of deep faith and service and ordinary Australians simply walking along the beach with those they loved. Some died shielding their families. Some died trying to stop the gunmen. Some died protecting strangers. They were people who gave, people who created, people who served. They were, all in all, good, everyday Australians.

Where there is darkness we look for light, and it was in the darkness of this attack in Bondi where we saw the brightest lights of our national character: first responders who ran towards danger; paramedics, doctors and nurses who fought to save lives; lifeguards who sheltered hundreds, triaged the injured on the sand and carried the wounded to safety; ordinary people throwing themselves at the attackers to protect others. Their actions reflected the courage, decency and instinctive solidarity that define the Australian spirit.

The antisemitic attack in Bondi has shaken our country awake to what has been building for years: radical Islamic extremism has spewed its hate onto our whole Australian community. The world realised the threat of Islamic extremism on 11 September 2001, a day when 10 Australians also lost their lives. That tattered Australian flag found in the rubble of the Twin Towers nearly 25 years ago in New York has never been restored, and now, in Bondi, it has been torn again, this time on our own soil. We cannot allow ourselves to drift back into the comfort of believing Australia is somehow insulated from terror, because terror has found us and it is looking for war. On the front line are our Jewish Australians—peaceful, good people who, over generations, have given so much to our nation, in the military, in politics, in sport and in every walk of life.

Terror will not disappear without strong leadership, clear resolve and decisive action. Australia expects this, and it is what is required to restore safety, restore confidence in our nation's future and safeguard the values that define us and the belief that public spaces belong to all of us and that Australians should be able to walk along the beach, gather in worship or enjoy a family outing without fear. This is what democratic freedom brings.

But leadership also requires something more: the ability to offer hope when the country is hurting—hope that we can build a safer Australia; hope that we can strengthen the bonds between communities; hope that we can protect our children and preserve the freedoms that define us; hope that love, not hatred, will shape the future of our nation. Hope is not naive. Hope is the work of rebuilding. Hope is the discipline of refusing to let terror write our story. Hope is the belief that we can rise from this moment stronger, more unified and more determined to defend the values that bind us together.

And hope is found in the youngest voice in this tragedy: the voice of a child—of little Matilda B, as her family called her. It's a reminder that even the smallest among us can bring the light and bring the purpose—an extraordinary impact; a tiny ray of sunshine with the power to touch a nation. She will not be known only as the youngest victim of an act of terror that has devastated our country; she will be known as the light, the hope and the love that will inspire change for the better. May her memory be a blessing, may her light guide us and may we honour her by choosing love over fear, unity over division and hope that carries us forward in peace.

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