Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Senate for the opportunity to speak on the condolence motion today, and I offer my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those whose lives were tragically cut short at the Chanukah by the Sea celebrations in Bondi on 14 December last year. I'd also like to acknowledge the President of the ACT Jewish Community, Athol Morris, and his colleagues including Mike Kelly, and members from the National Jewish Memorial Centre here in Canberra who are in the chamber today.

As a nation, we grieve, and, as a senator for the ACT, I want to take a particular moment to acknowledge members of the Jewish community here in Canberra, who are also mourning the loss of loved ones as a result of the terrorist attack on the Jewish community in Bondi. It's been just under a month since Canberrans came together for a candlelight service up here in the Great Hall where we honoured the 15 people murdered, the 41 people injured, the thousands of festival goers and the Jewish community members whose lives have been changed forever. As I've met with members of the Canberra Jewish community, as I've had moments to pause at the National Jewish Memorial Centre just down the road and as I've listened to the contributions from other senators made here already today, I have been reminded that, although these tragic events may have happened elsewhere, there is not one community across the country that will be unmarked by the devastating events of that Sunday night in Bondi.

The values we hold dear as a nation are freedom, respect, kindness and a sense of shared humanity. It's clear that what happened in Bondi was an attack on those values and an attack on the Australian way of life. As many have observed over the last month, there is another level of pain from violence enacted on holy days in sacred spaces as it attempts to poison days meant for faith, reflection and joy. I know I speak for all Australians when I say to the Jewish community: we stand with you, not just today but in the months and years to come and on every anniversary as you carry this unimaginable sorrow and grief.

Acts of terror seek to fracture our communities, sow division and make us retreat in fear of one another, but so many Australians over the past month, including in this place today, have come together to affirm that we must refuse that path. In those moments of terror and in the days that followed, the two terrorists in Bondi showed us the very worst of what humans are capable of. But we also saw so many, many more examples of the very best of what humanity can be.

In the Jewish tradition, Hanukkah means 'miracle of light that refused to go out when all hope seemed lost'. It speaks to the enduring truth that goodness does persist, and I'm not the first—and I won't be the last—to reflect on the ways in which this central tenet of Hanukkah also aligns with the Australian spirit, which, time and time again, buoys ordinary people to take extraordinary action, just as we saw in Bondi that night.

There are all of the strangers who ran towards danger to help those they'd never met. There are the citizens who sought to disarm gun-wielding terrorists before the attack began. And there are the young people thrust into a world where they should have been protected but then, instead, chose to protect others. We saw bravery and courage in real time by those responding to hate and terror—the police officers, the paramedics, lifesavers and the first responders, who bravely faced unimaginable scenes and did everything they could to save lives. There are the social workers and the chaplains who held space for grief in its rawest form. There was the outpouring of grief that touched the nation from every corner of our country. There was the visual representation of that found in the flower tribute that blanketed Bondi. There was the lighting up of windows with candles across the nation. People were donating blood for more than a month after the tragedy. This is the Australia we know; this is the Australia we love, as seen in every act of kindness and care that occurred on that day and since that evening in Bondi.

The lesson of Hanukkah teaches us that light endures. It also calls us to remember that light must be tended to, protected and passed from hand to hand. So, as a nation and as communities like ours here in Canberra, in the wake of this devastating tragedy, we are called not only to kindle that flame but also to carry it forward, shielding it from the winds that seek to dim it and sharing it with one another to send the very strongest of message that we must stand together with Jewish Australians and that no Australian should ever feel unsafe because of their faith, their heritage or who they are. We know that there is more to do. We know that we must be vigilant. We know that all the freedoms and security that had been so hard fought for can be taken away. This is the ongoing responsibility of all of us in this parliament and beyond.

I extend my sincere condolences to the 15 Australians who lost their lives, to those injured, to those touched by this terrorist attack, to their families, to their friends and to their communities. You are remembered today and you will be remembered every day.