Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today with a heavy heart to speak to this condolence motion following the horrific attack at Bondi Beach. Like the Gold Coast, Bondi is a symbol of who we are as Australians: open skies, golden beaches, families coming together, surfers watching the sets roll in, visitors from every corner of the world, sharing an unspoken understanding that this is a country of freedom and safety. That sense of ease and innocence was shattered. What happened at Bondi shocked us not only because of the lives lost and the lives forever changed but also because it struck somewhere deeply familiar. Those scenes could have been Coolangatta, or Burleigh, or anywhere along the coastline that I represent in McPherson. My heart breaks for Bondi. This is not the Australia we know. This is not the Australia that we have built together.

Among those murdered was Alexander Kleytman, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor. He survived the Nazis, and yet in the country he believed would keep him safe he was murdered for being Jewish. My deepest condolences go to the families and loved ones of those who were killed. No words spoken in this chamber can ease the grief that you carry, but know that the nation grieves with you and that we honour the lives that were taken far too soon.

We have a responsibility in this place to speak honestly about why this happened. This attack was not random; it was an act of antisemitic terrorism driven by a radical Islamist ideology that rejects our values, dehumanises Jewish people and glorifies violence. I have walked the grounds of Auschwitz and Dachau. I have stood where hatred was systematised, where ideology stripped people of their humanity and turned neighbours into targets. Those places remind us that antisemitism is not a disagreement or a grievance; it's a lethal ideology. When tolerated, minimised or excused, it does not fade—it grows.

Antisemitism has been growing in Australia. We have seen it on our streets, on our campuses, online and in protests where hatred is dressed up as activism. We have seen Jewish schools targeted, synagogues vandalised and families made to feel afraid in the country they call home. We have heard chants that should never be heard in Australia, and too often we have seen hesitation where there should have been moral clarity. When hatred is left unchallenged it creates the conditions in which violence becomes possible. Fifteen lives were ended as a consequence of that failure.

Australians are, rightly, asking how this happened and how we ensure it never happens again. We must stand unapologetically for the values that define us. Freedom of religion, equality before the law, mutual respect and the absolute rejection of political and religious violence. We must call out antisemitism for what it is, every time it appears, no matter who it comes from or how it is supposedly justified. We must confront radicalisation wherever it takes hold, with strong laws, effective security, proper resourcing for intelligence and law enforcement and the courage to say that some ideologies are fundamentally incompatible with the Australian way of life.

Australia has always been a nation of immigration, but it has never been a nation without standards. If you want to build a life here, you must leave imported hatreds at the door and commit to the non-negotiables that bind us together as Australians. From the Gold Coast to Bondi, Australians to live without fear. They want their children to go to the beach, to school or even to synagogue knowing they are safe. This condolence motion is not only about mourning the dead; it is about defending the living in the name of those who paid the ultimate price. It's about deciding the kind of country we will be. I refuse to accept an Australia where Jewish Australians feel unsafe, where hatred is normalised or where extremism is something we are powerless to confront. This is not the Australia I know and, with resolve, honesty and courage, it never will be. May the memory of those we lost at Bondi be a blessing—and may it strengthen our determination, in this place, to protect the Australia we love.

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