Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House expresses its deep regret at the deaths on 17 July 2009 of Mr Nathan Verity of Western Australia, Mr Garth McEvoy of Victoria and Mr Craig Senger of the Australian Capital Territory, and tenders its profound sympathy to the families and friends in their bereavement.

On 17 July, at around 7.40 am Jakarta time, explosions ripped through the lower floors of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta. It has become clear that the explosions were caused by two terrorist suicide bombers. As a result of the explosions, nine people lost their lives, three of them Australians who were active in the Jakarta business community. Mr Nathan Verity, 38, ran his own human resources business in Jakarta; Mr Garth McEvoy, 55, was a Thiess executive based in Jakarta; and Mr Craig Senger, 36, was an official with the Australian Trade Commission. Another Australian, Mr Scott Mirilles, was injured in the bombings. All were going about their normal business, attending a regular business breakfast meeting at the JW Marriott Hotel. We mourn the loss of each of these Australian lives.

I note that Craig Senger is the first Australian civilian official to be killed in a terrorist attack in the line of duty. Craig was a highly regarded trade commissioner at Austrade. Colleagues have spoken movingly of Craig as a man with an extraordinary spirit; in the words of Tim Harcourt at Austrade, a man who ‘was a joy to the world’; an official who worked tirelessly to build links between Australian businesses and overseas markets; and an Australian who made exceptional contributions to his local community whether he was in Canberra, Sydney, Jakarta, New Delhi, Moscow or Milan. I thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Trade for their contributions to the memorial service for Craig that was held in the Great Hall here in Parliament House two weeks ago, and I recognise the presence today in the gallery of Craig’s mother, Joan, his sister, Cate, and his niece, Holly. Their presence brings home to us the full human impact of the events of 17 July and obliges us to recommit to the task of stemming the scourge of terrorism in our own region.

As we grieve for our own citizens, we also remember the devastating impact of the terrorist attack on our friends in Indonesia and those from other nations who were caught up in this violence. The Australian government extends its sympathy and condolences to the people and the government of Indonesia and the people and the governments of New Zealand and the Netherlands, who also lost citizens in these bombings. These terrorist attacks are attacks on us all. We are united in our efforts to counter them. Australia stands shoulder to shoulder with the government of Indonesia in its struggle against those who perpetrate these outrages.

In the days after the bombings, I spoke to President Yudhoyono to extend my personal condolences to the people of Indonesia and to offer all practical assistance in finding and bringing to justice the perpetrators of the bombings. The foreign minister, accompanied by the National Security Adviser and Australia’s Ambassador for Counterterrorism, travelled to Jakarta on 18 July and extended this offer in person to the Indonesian government. Indonesia has had success in recent years in bringing terrorists to justice. We have confidence that they will do so again. The government applauds the work of Indonesian authorities over the past weekend, which has resulted in the arrest of a number of alleged terrorists and the disruption of planned terrorist networks.

I spoke to President Yudhoyono again over the weekend to assure him of our continuing support and to discuss the Indonesian government’s operations of recent days. The President briefed me on the operations and told me that the government of Indonesia is unable to confirm at this stage whether Noordin Top, who is believed to be behind the 17 July attacks in Jakarta as well as a range of other terrorist attacks, was the person killed in the operation in central Java. The Indonesian police operations are ongoing, and it is important that Indonesian authorities are given the opportunity to announce their conclusions in their own time. It is best to await the outcome of these processes. These operations underline the valuable work being undertaken by Indonesia in countering the threat of terrorism, which the Australian government will continue to support at every level. We will further deepen our cooperation with Indonesia on counterterrorism to do all that we can to prevent similar attacks from occurring again.

As the House today reflects on the pain and destruction wrought on 17 July in Jakarta against innocent civilians going about their everyday lives, we think of the families of the three Australians who perished on that day. As a nation we stand with them today, and our thoughts and our prayers go out to each of them at this time of extreme and great sadness.

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