Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of members of the Kingsford Smith community I'd like to offer my sincerest condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the terrible tragedy that occurred up the road from us at Bondi Junction on 13 April. The past three weeks have been unimaginably difficult, especially for our close-knit eastern suburbs community. Bondi Junction Westfield is a meeting place. It's generally a happy place for many in our community. My kids go there all the time with their friends to socialise, to shop, to eat, to go to the movies and to catch up. That all changed on 13 April when that happy place was turned into an unimaginable tragedy.

I want to pay tribute to two of the victims, in particular. They lived in the community that I represent and were considered locals. Pikria Darchia moved to Sydney a decade ago from Georgia. She was a world away from home, but she chose Maroubra as her new home, and she was well-known in the local community, particularly down at Maroubra Beach, where she was known as a local artist, a painter. She practised yoga and meditation. She was a regular at one of the well-known cafes down at Maroubra Beach. She was a well-known and very well-respected artist in the local community. Her kids lost their mother. Her grandkids lost so many precious years of time with her. She went to Bondi Junction on that day to simply buy a water bottle after having lunch with one of her best friends. Unfortunately, she never got to go home. Her best friend, Tamara Shelia said of Pikria: 'She loved nature. She loved everything about Australia.'

I also want to pay tribute to Ashlee Good, who lived in Randwick. Ashlee died in the noblest of circumstances, trying to save her baby, Harriet, when they were both attacked that day. Ashlee handed her baby to a man who was attempting to help, and said, 'Look after my baby.' It is a simply unimaginable tragedy. A nine-month-old—I just don't understand how anyone could do that to a baby. The baby had to fight for its life in Sydney, and, unfortunately, Ashlee succumbed to her injuries in hospital afterwards. I pay tribute to the staff at the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick for the fantastic job they did in the aftermath to save young Harriet.

Ashlee was remembered by her family and friends as 'a beautiful mother, daughter, sister, partner, friend and all-around outstanding human' with so much more to give in life. She was a trained osteopath and well-known in the eastern suburbs. She was full of life and had just returned to her job as an account executive after a period of maternity leave. She was described by loved ones as 'a ray of sunshine' with 'a beautiful zest for life'. Just hours before the attack at Bondi she'd posted a photo on her Instagram of her baby in her arms—something that's terribly tragic. She previously spoke to her mum about being a mum, saying, 'It's like experiencing your heart swell with love whilst navigating anxiety for the first time'; I think every parent can agree with that. She said it was 'pure joy and extraordinary exhaustion blended with emotions you've never felt before'. To her, that's what being a parent was—'the most outstandingly beautiful gift that anyone could ever receive'. We offer our sincere condolences to Ashlee's family.

I also pay tribute to the other victims—Dawn Singleton, Jade Young, Faraz Tahir and Yixuan Cheng—who were tragically killed on that day as they were going about their normal lives.

I also mention Damien Guerot, who lives in our community—the French construction worker commonly known as 'the bollard man'. The CCTV footage showed his bravery in confronting the perpetrator with the knife on that dark day. He then chased behind Police Inspector Amy Scott when she was attempting to stop the assailant. Our community thanks Damien, and I think the Australian people thank Damien, for his heroic work.

I also pay tribute to Amy Scott for her incredible bravery and her demonstration of the skill, competence and training of our first responders—particularly our New South Wales police officers—who do their job to protect their community, and, in doing so, risk their lives as well. Amy definitely risked her life on that day. She showed great skill and followed the procedures to a T, and no doubt stopped that man from potentially killing a lot more innocent people. For that, she deserves to be commended and recognised. I thank her and all her first responder colleagues for what they did.

In the darkness of this tragedy the eastern suburbs community has come together in unity. I attended the memorial site on the Monday after the tragedy, and the sea of flowers and the heartfelt messages were some comfort to many in our community who were quite shocked and still showing the visible scars of what had occurred. I hugged many people that day with tears in their eyes. It was wonderful to see volunteers and staff from the Prince of Wales Hospital mental health unit, wearing their orange bibs, being there to support people; that was a great relief for many in the community, and I thank them.

Then, of course, we had the vigil down at Bondi Beach. As I walked down to that vigil I saw the waves rolling onto the beach, similar to many of the tears that were rolling off the cheeks of many who were at that vigil. There was that expression of sympathy and love from our community coming together. I want to thank the volunteers and the council—the mayor of the council, Paula Masselos, and the council officers who organised that; the New South Wales Premier and the Premier's Department, who organised the event; and, of course, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Wentworth, who has done an extraordinary job in providing comfort and support to her community. She was there on the night, as were myself and the member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek, along with the members for Coogee and Vaucluse from the New South Wales parliament.

This is something that we hope we never have to speak about in this place but, unfortunately, we have had to. We offer our support, our love and our sincerest condolences to the families. We pray and hope that something like this never, ever happens again in any community throughout the country.

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