SUBJECTS: BONDI ATTACK, SUPPORT OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY, RECOGNITION OF ACTS OF BRAVERY
SPEAKER: The question is the motion be agreed to give a call to the Minister for Small Business, International Development and Multicultural Affairs.
DR ANNE ALY: Thank you. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I guess just a couple of weeks shy of Christmas, most Australians would have been doing the kind of ordinary things that you would be doing at around that time. Prepping for school holidays, prepping for Christmas. A time to rest and to recoup and spend time with your family and your friends. And for Australia's Jewish community, December 14 was the start of the festival of Hanukkah, the festival of light over darkness.
Now, Mr Speaker, over the course of the history of this great nation, Australians have been tested. We've been tested through wars and conflict, through droughts and, and through floods. And through each of these challenges, something really extraordinary has happened, and that is that the Australian spirit has prevailed. A spirit that embraces every single Australian in true kinship and in genuine mateship. A spirit that says to all Australians, regardless of who they are, regardless of where they were born, regardless of their religion or skin colour, you are us, and we are you. And so, too, December 14, 2025, is marked in our nation's collective memory as a day of tragedy. A mass casualty terrorist attack that was not indiscriminate, as most terrorist attacks are. In fact, it was an attack that targeted Australian Jews on a day of celebration for who they are. For who they are. An anathema to everything Australian, to every value that we hold dear in this country, and indeed, to the very values of humanity. But it's also remembered as a day for the incredible acts of love, of kindness, of bravery. And it's that love and that kindness and that bravery, that light that will guide us collectively as a nation through the dark, as it always has in this country.
Speaker, I take this moment to extend my deepest condolences to the Jewish community, to the families and friends who lost loved ones, to those who were wounded, to those who witnessed horrific scenes that they will never, ever be able to forget. I say to them that your pain is felt throughout this nation, from our most remote communities to our largest cities. Your pain is Australia's pain, and your sorrow is Australia's sorrow. And to our Jewish community, we will not look away. We will not let your grief go unanswered, and we will not let you grieve alone. We will wrap our arms around you, and we will say to you, "You are us, and we are you".
I want to take a moment today to honour the heroes of Bondi who have put themselves in danger to protect their fellow Australians, and the everyday Australians who performed these incredible acts of bravery and assistance to those in need. Boris and Sofia Gurman, who many have already spoken of. The couple who took the initiative to run towards danger, something that many of us would find pretty much against your first instincts, and confront the terrorists before they tragically lost their own lives. Jessica Rosen, a pregnant woman who shielded a little girl from the gunfire, as did many, many people who put their own bodies in the way of harm in order to shield others. Ahmed Al Ahmed, who also bravely ran towards danger to disarm the gunman and who risked his own life to protect strangers. People who he didn't know, people who he had never met, but people who he nonetheless felt that sense of kingship and that sense of mateship for. I also want to acknowledge the first responders, police, paramedics, doctors, nurses, lifeguards and veterans who came to the aid of fellow Australians.
Each one of these acts of bravery is done by a person or people who are Australians. Australians who stood up for the safety of our community, Australians who took action against hatred and their actions on that day compel us, not just those of us in here today, and not just for today, but every one of us, every Australian, and every day at all times, to stand up against those who divide us, to be vigilant against hatred in all its forms, to be open our eyes and be vigilant against this ancient, ancient hatred of antisemitism, and to stand together, as we always have as Australians, against the challenges that confront us with love, with kindness, with bravery and with the Australian spirit.
