John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the 10th anniversary of this sad occasion as someone who was based in the United States for one-quarter of his life. During these formative years throughout my 20s and 30s I was exposed to and embraced the American way of life, the enduring commitment to personal liberty and unrestrained opportunity. During this time a song was released, a lament by the name of American Pie, by Don McLean. The song that many of us of a certain age may be familiar with was the poetic retelling of the 1959 crash of a light plane in Iowa that killed four people: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and the pilot, Roger Peterson. This incident is recounted in the song as 'the day the music died'. Just like this tragedy, 11 September 2001 is about much more than a terrorist attack. It is about much more than 3,000 civilian lives that were lost that day. It is about much more than an aircraft now being considered a potential missile instead of just a mode of transport.

Last Sunday the US Ambassador to Australia, Mr Jeffrey Bleich, delivered a most moving speech at a ceremony on the 10th anniversary of September 11 here in Canberra. In his remarks Ambassador Bleich noted: 'The simple question on people's lips immediately after the terrorist attacks was: what do we do now?' This eloquently highlighted the way in which the world permanently changed on that fateful day. Ten years may seem like a long time, especially when so much has happened over the past decade, yet when the tragedies of 9-11 were recently revisited the shock was brought back to our collective minds as if it were yesterday. In the fullness of time there has been reflection and the words of Ambassador Bleich deserve repetition in this place:

In the 10 years since September 11, survivors of terrorism around the world have struggled … to understand what happened and why and how to stop it from happening again. Free people have come together from New York to Nairobi, from Bali to Belfast, from Mumbai to Manila, from Lahore to London and many other places and nations afflicted by terrorism. We have all been more careful at our borders, we have been more aware in our intelligence, we have been more aggressive in our response to terror. But we have been more than that. We have looked inward; and we have looked outward. We have been more inclusive of religions—learning each others traditions, hosting Iftars together, celebrating Ramadan and renewing our commitment to religious tolerance. We shared our thoughts and hopes and beliefs even more freely through our political processes.

We innovated and built new ways to communicate—social media—that connected us to more people around the world than ever before in human history. We made more friends. And we invested more than ever in our alliances and in our communities around the world. We gave more aid. We supported more charities. We welcomed new countries like South Sudan. And we celebrated the spirit of democracy among the people of Tunisia and other nations in this Arab Spring.

Then as now when our staunchest ally is attacked, our bond is tightened. Our Prime Minister, who was in Washington DC at that time, declared Australia's immediate willingness to partner with the United States, just as they would have responded had we been the direct target of such an attack.

Yet the events of the past decade have taught us so much more about our shared values and common approach to our existence in this new world. America has shown the capacity, and we have joined with them, to engage with our former enemies in a beneficial and mutually prosperous manner. We can look back through the pages of history from Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima to the bombing of Dresden and the fall of Saigon. We can identify any number of wartime incidents that we have since been able to move on from, patch wounds and mend fences.

There was no obligation on the part of the US to help rebuild Japan, implement the Marshall Plan and provide aid to a devastated postwar Europe, but it is this capacity to engage with their former enemies that lifts up the United States as truly beholden to its values. We too have been a beneficiary of that engagement, as have our former enemies that we now call trading partners and trusted friends.

As strong and forthright as America's belief is as the leader of the free world, their strength has been demonstrated by their capacity to pursue a course of action that restates what has made both our nations great: in welcoming all people to their shores, especially in the city where the Statue of Liberty stands as a beacon, welcoming the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Australia shares this legacy and, like the United States, we have benefited greatly from this investment of people's lives in our future. Similarly, like Australia, the United States has recognised errors of the past and continued genuine efforts to remedy those mistakes and come to terms with the people who occupied and cared for the land before our arrival. Many of those wounds remain exposed as only a relatively small amount of time has passed since the government policies that led to our own domestic tragedies like the stolen generations.

Yet I am also so very proud to say that this speech today was greatly assisted by the research performed by Kaitlan Forbes, an Indigenous high school student from Adelaide, who volunteered in my office and requested to contribute to this issue. I met Kaitlan as I was catching up with one of my oldest friends, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who I observed firsthand as she broke racial barriers and rose to the top of her sport.

Kaitlan was only seven years old when the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were attacked. In her research she showed great sympathy for the victims and their families but also chose to focus on the conflicts that have occurred since and her confusion as to how this would lead to a better outcome. She wrote this message on the notes she provided to me:

From my point of view it's like watching two children in a sand pit. One flicks sand into the others face and so the kid with sand in his face fills a bucket and dumps it on the others head. I do not fully understand the entire situation and I believe I will not but I do see that it is incorrect to attack because you have been attacked and kill innocent people in the cross fire.

These reasons are the very things that Ambassador Bleich talked about—charity, religious freedom, recognition and rights. These form the path to the peaceful resolution of any differences that may still exist. These positive actions and energies will be a constant in their effort to overcome the remaining challenges that face both our nations. This transition from war to a peaceful and prosperous time must provide the inspiration that leads us to a global pursuit of those values that make both our nations great.

I conclude with the final remarks offered by Ambassador Bleich:

Around the world, we resisted the natural instinct of people when attacked to withdraw and close off; our response has been to reach out and embrace.

Confronted with hate, we choose not to hate.

Confronted with death, we choose to live.

Confronted with fear, we choose to hope.

The currency of the United States is inscribed with the words, 'In God we trust.' God bless the home of the brave and the land of the free.

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