Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today, I join with my parliamentary colleagues in expressing our heartfelt condolences to the victims of MH17, their families and their loved ones. Like all Australians, I awoke on 18 July 2014 to the news of an unimaginable tragedy: a commercial aircraft shot down over eastern Ukraine. The loss of an MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur claimed the lives of 283 passengers, including 80 children, and 15 crew. Of the 298 victims of MH17, 38 men, women and children called Australia home. We are still struggling to come to terms with this act of complete disregard for human life. As a mother and as a member of society, I struggle with such a tragedy. Every day millions of people across the world put their loved ones on a plane, wave goodbye, send their best wishes and say, 'Have a safe trip.' I imagine the families and friends of people travelling on MH17 saying those words at the aircraft gate, then finding out that the unimaginable had occurred.

We ask ourselves: 'How can a commercial aircraft be shot out of the sky? Why did we lose a couple, both teachers, who were on holiday celebrating their retirement? Why did the victims include young men and women who were travelling in Europe and making the most of their youth? How can a young family returning to Australia tragically never return home? Why did so many innocent children, including Mo, Evie and Otis Maslin, have their lives tragically cut short? The families and loved ones of those lost are still searching for the answers to these questions, and so are we all.

As a nation, Australia grieves for all victims of MH17, and we share a particular loss for our fellow Australians who were returning home to the lucky country. We mourn for the scientists, medical researchers and doctors who were headed to Melbourne for the International AIDS Conference. The Central Coast Catholic community suffered the loss of Catholic nun Philomene Tiernan, former chancellor of the diocese of Broken Bay. I mourn for other types of losses. I mourn for the loss of the dreams of the people on board. I mourn for the loss of their hopes and aspirations to, one day, make the world a better place. I mourn for the loss of love and happiness that they brought to their families.

During a special national day of mourning on 7 August 2014 Australians came together to remember the victims and to celebrate their lives. On that day, as I paused in my office in Dobell, paused with the families and loved ones of those lost whilst watching the memorial on television, the enormity of this loss hit me. As a mother I simply cannot fathom the pain and the feeling of helplessness being experienced by the families and loved ones of those innocent victims.

As Australians we share our pain with Belgium, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines and the United Kingdom. As a member of this parliament I am immensely proud of the role that Australia has played in leading the international response in the wake of this tragedy. I am proud to be an elected member during Operation Bring Them Home when Prime Minister Tony Abbott sought the recovery and repatriation of victims of MH17 without hesitation.

While Prime Minister Abbott led our international effort from home, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop immediately left Australia for New York where she successfully initiated the UN Security Council resolution. Minister Bishop worked nonstop by spending the next two weeks travelling between Holland and Ukraine, tirelessly coordinating the international effort. For their dedication and tireless devotion to this cause I thank them. I thank Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston AC, AFC, retired, who led a special envoy on behalf of the Prime Minister. I also thank the 100 Australian officials from various agencies who were deployed to Ukraine and to the Netherlands with a sole determination to honour the victims by returning them to those they loved.

While we may never fully understand the loss of MH17 we stand united in the cause of justice for everyone involved in this terrible tragedy, innocently caught in the horror of a foreign war. We must never forget the passengers and crew of MH17 who were taken too soon.

I express my deepest condolences to all the families, friends and communities whose lives have been touched and changed forever by this heartless tragedy. So, hug your children a little tighter, tell someone you love them, give your loved ones a bit of warmth and compassion, perhaps through a hand squeeze, because, as this tragedy has shown, life is short.

To those on board MH17 who were tragically taken on 18 July 2014, may you rest in peace. God bless.

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