Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

First of all can I congratulate the member for Corangamite for her contribution, and all the members. It has been very touching. It is one of those few times in parliament where we all rise together with the same voice to speak on behalf of all Australians.

Like many Australians the way I became aware of the events of 15 December 2014 was from an SMS. My cousin Nathan texted me and, from memory, he said something like, 'we are all okay'. And I thought to myself, 'something has happened'. Then I looked on the internet and saw the events that were unfolding. I then rang him up. He had been working close by just the day before. That was the crucial or scary aspect of this event; it could have happened to anyone, anywhere.

The ordeal lasted 17 hours and tragically took the lives of Katrina Dawson, 38, and Tori Johnson, 34. I pass on my condolences. We truly lament their loss for their family and friends, and obviously this will impact them for the rest of their lives. But also all Australians will never forget what has happened.

The 14 other survivors of the siege will have memories of these hours and I am sure they have nightmares. This week when I looked up into the gallery and saw the faces of the hostages, you could see in their faces the fear and the emotion. You could see it was obviously still with them and it will be with them for a very long time.

The events I saw on TV, as all Australians did, the awful situation of hostages—mums and dads—up against the window of the cafe were absolutely terrifying. You cannot imagine what they have been through. These are the sorts of images we do not expect to see in Australia. We expect to see them in places like the Middle East. It could have been any of us, in any cafe in Australia. It could have been anyone just going about their day-to-day lives.

It was simply shocking. This is what terrorism is about. It is about putting fear into the public to stop them going about their daily lives. I can say to those wannabe terrorists and those sad people who are converted to terrorism, that you will never stop the Australian public from doing what they want to do—that is, living in freedom. The terror suspect—and he is not even worth naming so I will not—in this case was a lone wolf. For whatever reason he thought this was his mission in life and trying to put terror into other people.

As a former police officer I need to commend the New South Wales Police officers. I have gone through many doors, executed many search warrants with firearms out. But normally when you do this it is at the crack of dawn, first thing in the morning. When these police officers went through the door, they went in knowing that there was an armed offender—someone had just been shot; a number of shots had been fired. They put their lives on the line. Not only the first guy through the door but every single police officer who went through that door—one after another—was putting themselves in harm's way for one thing and one thing only and that was to carry out their duty and protect the public. I am so impressed with their actions.

I have also had an incident occur next to my electorate in Endeavour Hills. Sadly again a young Muslim man had been converted to become an extremist. For whatever reason he decided to take his war out against the police. We are hearing around the world that the police in blue and the military in green who put their hand up to protect and serve the public are targets. We have seen awful barbaric attacks where police have been stabbed and killed in the UK and France. This occasion was just up the road from my electorate office. The young man in this case was converted at a much younger age—Numan Haider. I have passed my condolences on to his family. We have a very strong Afghan community in my local area. I have had a function since and the Afghan community were absolutely horrified with this incident. The parents are good parents.

The sad aspect of this is that you have people targeting young Muslims trying to convince them that there is this awful path to follow to go against the so-called infidels. We have seen what has happened overseas. The acts of terrorism are getting worse. There was the pilot in Jordan who was burnt alive in a cage. Who would come up with something like that? Then there is what happened in Pakistan with all the children being murdered by the Taliban and the recent events of the two Japanese hostages who were killed. These are the most barbaric acts, but the world is actually uniting against what is happening because this is not the way good people who support a good religion would ever act. That is not what this is about. This is not about religion. It is not about Islam. It is simply about changing Islam to become terrorism. That is the really sad aspect of this.

In Australia I have acknowledged that the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have made statements of condolence today and previous statements on other events when it comes to national security. Both sides of the House are in every way trying to work together to make Australia a safer place to live. My thoughts again are with all the victims: sadly, those I mentioned right at the start—Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson—and their families and the hostage survivors. Again our thoughts are with them. We will never forget what has happened to them and their loved ones.

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