Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

In speaking in support of the Prime Minister's motion, and on behalf of Gippslanders, I want to extend my condolences to the families and the loved ones of the 15 innocent Jewish Australians who were murdered at Bondi Beach in the worst terrorism attack on Australian soil. I want to commend speakers on both sides of the chamber for their contributions today, but specifically the many fine words that have been spoken by people like the member for Berowra, the member for Isaacs, the member for Wentworth and the Deputy Prime Minister.

One of their central themes was that Australia has been good to the Jewish people. Australia has been a safe place—a place where Jews have not been persecuted for their faith as they have been in other parts of the world. After the horror of the Holocaust, many Jewish people came to Australia and helped to build the nation that we all enjoy today. So, yes, Australia has been good to the Jewish people, but the Jewish people have been good to Australia as well. There are so many leaders in business, in defence, in politics and in our cultural and broader civic life—the Jewish people have been good to Australia. The terrorism attack, tragically, has stoked fear and division as it undermines the Australia that we all believe in in this place.

Collectively, we have failed Jewish Australians in this place. We have to accept our share of responsibility for failing to keep them safe. Self-evidently, we failed to keep them safe as they went about practising their religion and celebrating a special time in their families' lives. We have to ask the right questions. We have to learn the lessons and we have to commit ourselves to protecting the rights and the freedoms of all Australians.

I think my friend the member for Berowra said it best when he told the House:

Without change—without political change, without cultural change and without a reprioritisation of antisemitism as the foundational threat to this country—what we have seen will get worse. It's naive to think parliament could sit for two days and then move on as if that's enough to deal with this issue.

He said:

The sad reality is, if we don't change, then Bondi won't have changed anything. Bondi represents a moment of choice …

The challenge for us in this place is to honour the victims, to honour the survivors, to honour the brave souls who sought to intervene as bullets were being fired at innocent people and to honour those whose lives will never be the same after that day. The way we honour them is by the actions we take in this place.

Before each summer, members of parliament are offered a briefing on the upcoming summer and the natural disaster predictions from our emergency services. The briefings serve as a warning, and they urge us to take action to prepare our communities for the risk of natural disasters like fires, floods and cyclones. While the terrorism attack at Bondi Beach was not a natural disaster, make no mistake—we were warned.

This is not about apportioning blame. This is about acknowledging that we were warned and that we failed to take enough action to prepare our communities. The government and the opposition were warned, and we failed to take enough action to keep Jewish Australians safe. Month after month following the 7 October attack on Israel we experienced an escalation in antisemitism, and Jewish leaders warned us that things could get worse. So, today—as we grieve for the lives cut short; as we recognise the heroic actions of citizens and first responders; as we talk about the challenges we face to restore peace, freedom and respect—we have to accept our responsibility, as elected representatives of our communities, to take more action.

As Australian of the Year Neale Daniher is fond of saying, 'When all is said and done, much more is said than done.' That cannot be the case on this occasion. We owe it to the memories of the fallen to take the strong action required to keep Jewish Australians safe and protect the values that have united our nation for generations. I want my children and my grandchildren to live in a country that is good to the Jewish people. The choices we get to make in this place, the leadership we demonstrate and the action we take on the ground will decide the type of Australia we leave for our future generations. Today, we are united in grief. Tomorrow, we must be united in our action to combat hatred and antisemitism in our nation.

See this speech in context