Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

The events of 14 December 2025 changed our country and challenged the fabric of our nation. My deepest condolences to the victims, their families and their friends. Today we remember 15 innocent people whose lives were taken in the most awful of circumstances: the youngest, 10-year-old Matilda, a happy little girl who loved the outdoors, animals and her friends and family; Rabbi Eli Schlanger; Dan Elkayam; Rabbi Yaakov Levitan; Reuven Morrison; Peter Meagher; Tibor Weitzen; Marika Pogany; Sofia Gurman; Boris Gurman; Edith Brutman; Boris Tetleroyd; Adam Smyth; Tania Tretiak; and the oldest victim, 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman. These senseless deaths should never have happened. The hateful sentiment behind them has been building for some time. What should have been a day of joy and light, celebrating the start of Hanukkah, was destroyed by the vile actions of two very evil men.

My thoughts are also with the witnesses, the first responders and those who were injured in this unforgivable attack by Muslim extremists. Muslim fundamentalism leads to Muslim extremism, and to think that such evil lives in our suburbs is utterly horrific. We must not allow Islamic extremism in our nation. For too long Jewish people have been targeted and have suffered. I have talked with many Jewish Australians in South Australia, my home state, and they have said to me that they noticed a very sizeable shift after 7 October. Since that time, the Jewish community have suffered in silence. They have suffered the vandalism, the graffiti, the firebombing of synagogues and cars and the threats to life. Even now this vile antisemitism continues in my state. They live in fear quietly, but it's a fear they should never have to experience.

My condolences go to the Australian Jewish community. There is no place for hatred in our country, and I am so truly sorry that we, as a nation, did not do more to protect you and stand by you. My community of Mayo is united in sorrow, and we are determined for a peaceful Australia. We will not stand for what happened at Bondi or for antisemitism in any form. It is wicked, and we will not let it divide us or define our country's future. To all the families that have lost a loved one, to those who have lost friends and people who were close to them, and to those who have been injured: my thoughts and prayers are with you every night.

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