Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Lingiari for his fine condolence speech, choked with emotion as he spoke those words. The member for Lingiari is normally a hard man, but that was the most compassionate speech I have ever heard him give. It just goes to show the emotion that all Australians have been gripped with following this recent tragedy. I know my colleague the member for Flynn is also going to speak in a few minutes, about how he has been personally touched in his electorate in Queensland by this tragedy. We heard the member for Blaxland speak earlier about somebody from his region, his district, who lost their life in that awful, unnecessary act of barbarism. We heard a beautiful speech given by the member for Forrest. Whenever these sort of tragedies arise, whether they are natural disasters, whether they are people suffering hardship, or disasters such as this, the member for Forrest always rises to the occasion with her beautiful words.

It crosses all sides of parliament, this awful tragedy, the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on 17 July 2014. It was an horrific and inexplicable act: 283 passengers and 15 crew on a routine flight between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur killed when their aircraft was downed over Ukraine. The world watched in horror. We in parliament—when the Prime Minister spoke on that Friday morning just before we went on the mid-winter recess—were all agape at the dreadful news, and then of course what followed: the pictures of the crash site, the names, the faces of those onboard and the wreckage left behind being broadcast on social media, on television and on the front pages of our newspapers. And to think that 38 Australians—38 brave men, women, boys and girls—who should have been coming home, should have been continuing on their journeys, on their holidays, on their business, were then not coming home the way that their relatives would have wanted and expected. It is just unbelievable. As the names and faces were learned, as loved ones discovered the unimaginable loss, the hearts of all Australians went out—particularly to those 38, but indeed to all the 298 onboard. They are all family people—work colleagues and friends.

The Australian government led the international response at the United Nations Security Council in a resolution which condemned the aircraft's downing and the loss of lives. Certainly the words of our foreign minister rang true when she said:

We must have answers. We must have justice. We owe it to the victims and their families to determine what happened and who was responsible.

That is absolutely necessary, of course. The Australian nation has been moved by the heartache. Ours is a grief etched in what cannot be explained. There are no real answers, but at a national day of mourning on Thursday 7 August the nation gathered together in Melbourne to remember those whose lives were taken. As a nation we were moved by singer Katie Noonan's rendition of I Am Australian. It was an apt and fitting description of the Australian nation at that dreadful moment in time. As we saw those first images in the early hours of the morning, Australian time, on 18 July, we were all shocked and appalled. There are no words, as I said, or explanation for this dreadful event. We do, as a nation, commend those who have worked so hard in Operation Bring Them Home. We do commend the 500 personnel deployed, including the 250 dedicated military personnel and Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, for their efforts. It is a dreadful thing to recover bodies, to identify bodies. Operation Bring Them Home is certainly going to provide some small semblance of closure, but it will never give the answers that the families seek.

It is gratifying that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko have had one-on-one talks, after which the Ukraine leader said that a road map for a possible ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine would be prepared as soon as possible. That is necessary. Operation Bring Them Home will bring our wonderful Australian people home. This is a dreadful tragedy. May they rest in peace, as well as all the other passengers and crew on that fateful flight.

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