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

We were all shocked when we saw the footage of the events unfolding at Westfield Bondi Junction on that fateful afternoon of Saturday 13 April. We have all done it: we've all gone shopping on a Saturday afternoon, looking for a gift, browsing—doing what ordinary, everyday Australians do, gathering in a peaceful place, a safe place, a secure place. Sadly, the actions of the perpetrator of this dreadful act not only had a profound impact on our nation on 13 April but will have an impact forevermore, because the lives of those people, mostly young people, were taken so unfairly, so cruelly and in such dreadful circumstances.

The Minister for Industry and Science has just read their names, and I'm glad the speakers on this condolence motion have. Sometimes when there is a tragedy involving a number of people, be it a military action or something such as this—and thankfully it's not too often—we just say the number of people who were killed. But they all have names. They loved and were loved. They have families who will go on mourning each and every one of them. Xixuan Cheng, 27, was an economics student at the University of Sydney, a fine educational institution. Pikria Darchia, 55, was an artist and designer—such a talent. Ashlee Good, 38, was an osteopath and the mother of nine-month-old Harriet. Harriet was a victim as well, but fortunately she survived. In Ash's final conscious moments she saved her daughter's life by giving her to a couple of brave bystanders. 'Look after my child,' she was no doubt thinking in those final horrendous moments. Dawn Singleton, 25, was an e-commerce assistant whose fiance, a police officer, was amongst the dozens of officers called to the scene. She was shopping for her upcoming nuptials. I know personally how much she was loved within the NSW Police Force. She was an e-commerce assistant, but the ramifications spread further than just her circle of friends; they actually went through the NSW Police Force, because her fiance is a much-respected police officer. Faraz Tahir, 30, was a security guard, a Pakistani national, a refugee. He was a security guard, as the minister, the member for Chifley, has just said, killed on his very first shift at Bondi Junction. Just think about that. It was his first day of work and he bravely went to help others, to see what needed to be done, in his role as a security guard and he lost his life because of it. And Jade Young, 47, was a brilliant architect. The lives of all of them were so cruelly cut short.

I know there was a story in the Daily Telegraph today about the NSW Police Force seeking more officers. According to the report, they're 1,500 short and seeking officers from other states and, indeed, from across the ditch—the Tasman—in New Zealand. One of the things that really struck me, as the father of a police officer, was how the men and women in blue ran to the scene, because that's what police do. That's what the ambulance officers did and what all of those first responders did that day. I hope and pray—and I'm sure it is happening—that those officers, be they ambos or be they police, are given the right attention, because many of them will be suffering as a result of this incident.

Inspector Amy Scott—how brave was she, Madam Deputy Speaker? Yes, she's got 19 years of experience in the force. Yes, she is an inspector, so she's senior. But it still takes guts. It takes courage. It takes bravery. It takes that certain metal steel in your heart and your head to do what she did and to neutralise this dreadful, dreadful attack.

We have thoughts not just for the victims but for all involved—for those people who were not first responders, those people who were not victims but who saw. For them it will be on their conscience too. And we think of our brave bollard boys who thwarted the efforts of the perpetrator to go between levels. They held him up for those few vital seconds or moments or minutes and probably saved—who knows? A dozen or so lives. They stopped it from being far worse than what it was.

In the worst of times we see the best of Australians. I share the Prime Minister's and the opposition leader's fine words—and the words of those others who have spoken on this motion, including the member for Wentworth, and I told her so when I bumped into her in the corridor. It would have been hard for her too. It's her local electorate, and no-one likes these things happening, let alone in their own local community. So many of us, probably all of us, have been to Bondi Junction. As I say, it was just an ordinary everyday Saturday afternoon.

We pay tribute to those whose lives were snuffed out by this dreadful attack. We pay tribute to the first responders. We say thank you. And I'll reiterate that the police were so brave. I do hope that they are getting the mental help that so many of them will need, but I'm sure they will. I thank those officers, particularly Inspector Scott, for doing what they did. I know that it solidified in my own mind—and, no doubt, in everybody else's minds too—what fine first responders we have. Whether it's a natural emergency, a natural disaster, or something such as this, we see the best of Australians in the worst of times.

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