Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

'No surprise there,' he says! Shane was a very good spin bowler. He was a very solid batsman. He went through the grades and straight into the firsts for Saint Michael's, my club—the club I've been playing with since high school. And the club still to this day remembers Shane, as they should, and honours him.

The Forbes community wasn't in the Riverina electorate in 2002 at the time of the bombings, but it is now and has been since 2016. The Forbes community held a moving commemorative service to pay tribute to Paul Cronin, Greg Sanderson and Brad Ridley. They also died in this awful terrorist attack. They were there as members of the Forbes Rugby Union Club, along with 22 of their teammates, on their end-of-season trip. Many sporting clubs, football and otherwise, were in Bali.

Bali is a destination of choice for many Australians. It's a place of adventure; it's a place of youth; it's a place of high spirit; and, sadly, it's a place of tragedy. Those left behind continue to be strangled by the evil tentacles of terrorism. Having lost a loved one, you could not get over it, but, indeed, their spirit endures. Many of the families who lost loved ones have memorials in their honour. They always remember this day, and the 20th anniversary has been a sombre occasion. They live with the cost of terrorism each and every day. But they are bigger than letting it defeat them, and Australians are bigger than letting terrorism defeat them, as are all people of good conscience and of good faith who are not going to allow terrorism to dictate the way we live.

We all want our freedom. We're a very lucky country. We look at some of the atrocities being committed in other nations, still to this day, and we all should be thankful and grateful that it's not something that we have, but, indeed, the spirit of those Bali bombing victims is always with us. The price of peace is eternal vigilance. We will always fight against terrorism; we will always fight against evil. We remember those we lost, we honour their memory, and we love and respect what they gave to their families.

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