Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to put on the public record a few comments in relation to the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of 9-11, which has left an indelible mark on my mind. The images of that day will be with me for as long as I live—that terrible day when we saw terrorists attack the very heart of the free world, symbols of the free world in the United States of America in New York, in Pennsylvania and also Washington, DC.

My memories of that horrible day in 2001 are very vivid, because at that time our defence minister, Peter Reith, was overseas and I was veterans affairs minister and defence personnel minister. In fact, I was acting as the defence minister. I was in my own electorate and had just addressed a veterans dinner in the town of Goondiwindi. I returned to my motel with my adviser, my wife, and switched on the TV. I thought we might be watching some sort of a movie. The reports that were being shown on television around the world in those first few minutes were saying that a plane had flown into one of the Twin Towers in New York. The defence department obviously had that advice immediately. My defence adviser came to me and said, 'We don't know what is happening in New York but they will talk to you in the morning. They'll talk to us in the morning. We don't know what's happening there, but there's something terrible happening.'

It was about that time they said, 'Turn the TV on.' I said, 'We've got the TV on.' But it was at that moment we saw the second plane flying into the second tower. That is an image I will never forget. I thought, 'Hang on. One's just flown in. Is this a repeat? Are they just running the story again?' It was just impossible to comprehend that this could be happening at the very heart of the free world and the great symbol of the free world.

The other thing I will not forget about that night is that our eldest son, was in banking and finance, was often in New York at an office adjacent to the Twin Towers, and I wondered where he was that night. He was always, as bankers are, in London, New York or Sydney. Next morning I found out that he was not in New York; he was in fact in London. That came from our second son. Our two other children were concerned that night for their elder brother, their big brother. It all comes back to you.

What it really brought home to me was the importance of family and your loved ones. Each of my other two children rang my eldest son to see where he was because they were concerned about him. I heard their voicemails on my mobile the next morning. They said, 'He's not in New York; he's in London.' It was a tremendous relief in those moments and hours overnight wondering where he was.

A year later I was the representative of this parliament at the United Nations General Assembly and we were in New York for the first anniversary of 9-11. Obviously, there were commemorations all over New York and I will never forget the night before when they were coming in from the Bronx and Queens and all the boroughs around New York to 9-11. They were the firemen, the emergency service people, the ambulance drivers, the police. They were marching. They were walking. For them, it did not matter how long it took but they were going to be at Ground Zero next morning. Some started off at seven and eight o'clock at night, and there was saturation television coverage of where they were coming from and going to. They were going to Ground Zero. I felt: this was not a place for me; this is a place for those who have lost loved ones and those who were there at the time.

I went down to Fifth Avenue and thought: where can I be? At that moment, 8.46 am, the huge, wonderful city of New York, as you looked down towards Ground Zero, seemed to slowly come to a halt. Motor vehicles, buses, taxis—you could just see red lights, a foot on the brake and people around you becoming motionless at that moment as the bells rang out from the churches and cathedrals.

That is another moment I will not forget as this huge, wonderful city, home to so many people of different ethnic backgrounds, religious backgrounds, seemed to be trying to comprehend yet again what had happened 12 months earlier. I was privileged to be there and experience that moment.

A few minutes later, like winding up an old record player, that the whole city started to move again. It was just one of those moments in my life, not only 9-11 but also that year later when I was representing the Australian parliament at the General Assembly of the United Nations. The September 11 event shocked the world. The other thing it did was unite like-minded countries around the world to say that we were not going to be defeated by an act of terrorism so ghastly and so horrific—that we would join together to make sure that the arm of terrorism was not going to defeat us nor defeat the free world. I was part of the government, and I know we had the support of members of the other side of the House when we said we would be part of a group of like-minded countries to take on the Taliban in Afghanistan, which was one of the headquarters of the Taliban, Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. We also went into Iraq to make a difference. I have visited Iraq since the occupying of the country and have seen democracy start to flourish and the beginnings of a better way forward for the people of Iraq. We have already experienced the loss of so many lives in Afghanistan since we and like-minded countries went in to make sure that the cells of terrorism there can never be regenerated or are at least quelled and to play our part as a nation to make sure that terrorism is stamped out and can never make such an attack on the free world in the future.

But it was not just New York; it was the Pentagon in Washington and Pennsylvania. Whilst I was in New York a year later there were 88 Australians killed because of a terrorist attack in Bali. It shocked the world. Cells linked to the original terrorist cell that attacked New York were responsible for the attack in Bali. There were 202 people killed in Bali when three bombs went off that day. At that moment in my life I thought, 'Will we ever really get on top of this?' These were attacks on our way of life—on the free world. Strangely enough, my second son was in Bali at that time. Our children travel so much and so freely. They are so different, I guess, to the youth of our time.

Then, in 2005, 52 people from all walks of life were killed and around 700 people were injured when suicide bombers linked to al-Qaeda detonated bombs in London—another example of how these people will strike the free world and kill innocent people of all faiths and all nationalities. They do not consider who they are going to affect. Since 2001, more than 110 Australians have died as a result of terrorist attacks.

So last Sunday was a time for me to think not only of the events of 9-11 2001 but also of the events since that time. We as a nation have played our part with like-minded countries to do our bit to make sure events such as those we have seen in Bali, London, New York, Washington and Pennsylvania can never happen again. I often think of things said about the Second World War when Hitler was on the rise in Germany and when he invaded Poland. There were people at that time who thought that Hitler would not invade Poland and would never be a force for evil. There is a saying: 'If good men do nothing, evil will persist.' Good people—women and men—of like minds have joined together and done so many good things to make sure that we play our part as Australians in helping other countries ensure that their country is free of the tyranny of terrorists.

Tonight I honour all those who have lost their lives. I refer to all those people who played such a significant part and also of course those who lost loved ones. We remember you and we always will. We need to learn from the cowardly attacks that caused those untimely deaths in 9-11 and in other terrorist attacks since. We have to do everything we can to further reduce the risk of terrorist attacks not only here in Australia but also around the world. We remember all who have been involved and all who have lost loved ones. I will never forget that day in my life and the subsequent events, and I admire those who have come together to make sure that the tyranny of terrorism can never get a foothold in the free world again.

Main Committee adjourned at 19:30

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