Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with a heavy heart I stand today, joined in grief with all Australians—in fact joined in grief with much of the international community. Together we are saddened by loss, horrified by a heinous crime in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17—tragically shot down over the skies of Ukraine.

This was a senseless murder of 298 innocent lives—298 innocent lives lost forever. They were children, mums and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers; people returning home from a magical holiday, some bursting with optimism of the adventures they were going to have in a land faraway and many others travelling for business. All in all, 298 lives lost too soon—298 victims; 298 too many. This abhorrent act has further changed the lives of so many, right around the world. The unspeakable grief now with the living and the murder of the innocent. Let us be absolutely clear—what happened when MH17 was shot down was murder. There were 298 innocent people that were murdered and 38 men, women and children that called our Australia their home too. Those responsible must be brought to justice.

Today, I think we have seen the very best of the parliament—people from all sides representing all areas of our country, talking together and united in grief; sharing stories of people lost from their own communities. I, from the electorate of Lindsay, have a wonderful region as well, and in the grief of this I have had so many people contact my office and with your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would love to read some of their comments.

From Sue:

We should be thinking about those who have lost their loved ones, in a blink of an eye their lives changed forever. Never take a life or a family for granted because it could have been our friends or family that are now lost, or even us, so tragically and sad. May we pray for peace in our world as the fighting is not the answer.

From Gina:

Just horrible, regardless.

From Bob:

A dreadful piece of terrorism which caused the deaths of many people including innocent children. What has the perpetrator gained from this?

From Terry:

What a crazy world we live in. All those people killed for no reason.

From Dave:

These criminal actions must be accounted for. Anything less is absolutely unacceptable. Please continue to be our voice of disgust and demands for justice.

From James:

I hope the truth can be found … soon to help the … families grieving the loss of a loved one.

From Craig: 'Can't imagine the pain families are enduring at the moment and glad we as a nation are getting involved.' From George:

My prayers are with the victims and their families and friends god give all strength …

Finally, from Monica:

My gut was in knots for the families of the victims … and their loved ones.

The comments from my own electorate of Lindsay are reflected right around the country. Unfortunately, we cannot bring them back, but what we can do is to bring them home as humanely as we can. I would like to extend my gratitude for the actions of the Prime Minister and the stellar performance of our foreign affairs minister in working to send 500 Australians in Operation Bring Them Home.

In our grief, we must now remember how they lived—the footprints forever left on our hearts, gone but not forgotten. May they rest in peace.

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