Labor MP Josh Burns has recalled the fear that struck him the moment he learnt of the Bondi terror attack and former attorney general Mark Dreyfus became visibly emotional during a condolence motion in federal parliament for victims of the shooting.
Standing orders were suspended in parliament on Monday as the prime minister Anthony Albanese moved the condolence motion in memory of the 15 people who were killed when two gunmen, allegedly inspired by Islamic State, targeted a Hanukah event on 14 December at Sydney’s Bondi beach.
Burns told the house his daughter had been about to go to a similar Hanukah in the park festival in Melbourne on the day of the shooting, and described the fear that rippled through the Jewish community as news of the violence spread.
“You think, what about my own family? What are they going to do? Are they going to be safe?” Burns said.
“We must not dehumanise each other, because dehumanisation leads to exactly what happened in Bondi. Not every act of hate ends in violence, but every act of violence begins with hate.”
Dreyfus said the government’s response should not be confined to grief, but it “must extend to what we choose to defend and how we defend it.”
Appearing to fight back tears, Dreyfus spoke of the loss felt by those whose loved ones had been killed.
“For every person murdered their families and friends left behind. A home left quieter, clothes still hanging in wardrobes, photos on walls that will never be updated, children asking when someone is coming home.
“A seat left empty at the table, a laugh no longer heard, the longing for one more word, one moment, one more chance to say what was left unanswered. The pain of that absence does not pass quickly. They were parents, children, neighbours and friends.”
The condolence motion condemned the atrocity and vowed to eradicate antisemitism, honoured the courage of first responders, acknowledged the trauma of the event, and affirmed the right of Jewish Australians to live in peace and safety.
Albanese acknowledged the victims’ families who were in the public gallery for the condolence motion and the rest of the Jewish community. Responsibility for ensuring such an atrocity never occurred again began with him, Albanese said.
“On your long road to healing, Australia will be by your side,” he said. “We make it clear to every Jewish Australian, you are not alone.”
Albanese said he had requested the governor-general create a new category of Australian honours so people could nominate those who acted with bravery in the wake of the attack.
“Their bravery is inspiring and it was instinctive. They didn’t need to know the names of the people they faced gun fire to help. They did not stop to think about faith or nationality. Their bond was more profound than that. Their bravery was an act of shared humanity,” Albanese said.
Minister for home affairs, Tony Burke, said he wished the federal government was “going harder” on hate speech in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre.
On Tuesday, the parliament will consider draft laws on hate speech and gun control, made in response to the terror attack. The bills have been split after the hate speech proposals received vehement opposition from the left and the right.
Australia had “a chance to respond more loudly than the evil of the terrorists”, Burke said. “To simply say, they don’t speak for us. Our voice is: you are welcome here, forever, we will make it safe.”
Burke also spoke about Ahmed al-Ahmed, the Syrian migrant and Muslim bystander who disarmed one of the gunmen. Ahmed had been looking for somewhere to get coffee in Bondi, and was invited into the Hanukah event by a rabbi, Burke said.
“Nobody is going to tell me that Ahmed Al-Ahmed is of the same religion as the gunman,” Burke said.
“When I visited him in hospital his explanation of what he did was very much about the hand of God, a story you could have heard from somebody of any faith. And I just think it’s important as we work through the horror, and the hatred and the evil, the unspeakable evil of those gunmen, we need to not lose what’s best about Australia and we don’t assign it on the way through to the wrong people.”
Opposition leader Sussan Ley said antisemitism had “festered in plain sight” in Australia since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, and “came out of the shadows” in the public opposition to Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza.
“We must unite as a parliament to confront and defeat this evil. To do so, we must face uncomfortable truths,” Ley said.
Allegra Spender, the independent member for Wentworth who represents the area of Bondi, said 14 December was one of the darkest days of modern Australia, and that the country “will never be the same, nor should it be”.
She called on everyone, including MPs in the house, to focus on unity and social cohesion.
“People are angry now and rightly so but in [Rabbi Yehoram Ulman’s] words, Australia must become a nation where kindness is louder than hate, where decency is stronger than fear,” Spender said.
“This was the most violent attack of hatred in modern Australia. And I do believe that we as a country can emerge more united, steadfastly committed to our common values and our shared humanity than ever before… This is what we owe those we have lost.”
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