Annette Ellis (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a privilege and an honour for me to be able to participate in this very important debate in our program here this morning. We tragically heard on 17 July of this year that Mr Nathan Verity of Western Australia, Mr Garth McEvoy of Victoria and, closer to home for me, Mr Craig Senger of the ACT all perished as a result of the murderous act of what has emerged to be two suicide bombers when they attacked the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels early that morning in Jakarta. I think it is also appropriate to note that nine people in all lost their lives, including the three Australians I have mentioned, and also that Mr Scott Mirilles, an Australian, was injured. While making mention of this terrible act, we pass on our very sincere condolences to everybody—to the local Indonesians, to people of other nationalities and to the families of all of these Australians who were so tragically cut down by this terrible action.

Specifically this morning I speak directly on behalf of my community of Canberra about Mr Craig Senger. Mr Craig Senger, as has been noted, was tragically the first Australian diplomat killed in a terrorist attack. He was born and educated here in Canberra. He met his wife, Kate, and married here in Canberra. I had the privilege and honour of attending last week a memorial service held here in the Great Hall of the national parliament to mourn the passing of Craig Senger. The words that were used by particularly the Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, along with senior Austrade officials and others, really gave us all a description of a young man who contributed so much both professionally and personally in his tragically short life.

I would like to refer to some of the comments that were made at that time with the indulgence of the chamber. Tim Harcourt from Austrade called Craig Senger a man who was a ‘joy to the world’—an official who worked tirelessly to build links between Australian businesses and overseas markets. He was an Australian who made exceptional contributions to his local community, whether he was in Canberra, Sydney, Jakarta, New Delhi, Moscow or Milan—all places where he had been. It was also said by the Minister for Trade and the Minister for Foreign Affairs that, while this was Craig’s first full-time overseas posting, they were not at all expecting it to be his last and that he had a stellar career in front of him.

He was greatly admired by his colleagues and friends. He had a sense of humour and a joie de vivre that many of us could learn a lot from. He had worked to the point of being highly regarded and he was, at the time of his death, leading the mining and resources team for Austrade for South-East Asia in Jakarta. It is interesting to also note that Craig’s career was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Albert Senger. Albert was also a trade commissioner in the fifties. As Minister Crean said:

Albert, like all of us, is part of Craig’s wider family—it’s the trade family …

It was interesting for me to hear that Craig Senger had a grandfather who was so active and so regarded in his own life as a senior trade commissioner during the 1950s, in the really difficult times of establishing a new nation following the Second World War, where trade and interaction internationally was so important. From what I have heard, I know that Craig Senger really had a great deal of pride in carrying on that family tradition.

The other comment I wish to make is that while we mourn the loss of the life of Craig Senger and his colleagues, when we think of his family, and I will refer to them in a moment, we must also think of his work colleagues in the embassy in Jakarta in particular. The people we have working in our embassy in Jakarta have not had an easy ride over the last few years. They have really had more than their share of tragedy in one form or another in recent years. I will not go into those details; we are all very familiar with them. But here again was another time when they were really pushed to the edge of their ability to cope with not only the loss of colleagues but also the practicalities that such an occurrence presents.

I know that we would all endorse very much the continuing incredibly high professionalism that is displayed by people serving our nation overseas, through Foreign Affairs, Austrade and other agencies at any time, let alone at times like this. I want to make a point of mentioning that this morning and passing on to them, on behalf of my community, and I am sure on behalf of the parliament, our regard for the role that they take and for the challenges that they face. When they head off on an overseas posting they do not expect an easy ride, but by no means do they expect to be facing this sort of thing. It is very tragic and they really need to have our regard very high in their minds.

As I said, Craig Senger married Kate here in Canberra. His mother, Joan, his sister, Cate, and his niece, Holly, I believe were in the chamber yesterday when the Prime Minister began this condolence motion. The family lives here in Canberra. To Joan and the family, and particularly to his wife, Kate, we can but send our sincere condolences, our warmest of wishes and ask them to believe that if all of the sympathy of the chamber were of any help to anyone, we would like to think it is going to help them in the knowledge that we share their grief, we pay due regard to the work that Craig and his colleagues were doing and we deplore the loss of such wonderful young professional people in such a terribly tragic way. This is just bloodthirsty murder. There is no other way of describing it. It is senseless. When you look at the families of these people, of Craig and others who have died, you just wonder about the senselessness of this type of behaviour. I know that, as a parliament, we are all joined as one in our belief and our efforts to do all in our power to ensure that this sort of behaviour internationally does not continue.

I want to finish by recalling some of the comments that were made, particularly by two or three of Craig Senger’s close friends, during the memorial service last week. While I do not have their words in front of me, I certainly have in my memory the absolute joy of their friendship with Craig and their pride in him as a friend, their regard for him as someone who had a sense of humour, generosity of spirit, boundless energy, enthusiasm and dedication to his job. He sounds to me like he would have been a delight to know, and I am sorry I did not know him personally. It sounds to me like he was someone we would all have enjoyed the company of. It appears to me that no matter where you were, if you ran into Craig Senger, you ended up going to barbecues, playing cricket, playing football, working hard, dedicating yourself to the duty you have, but ensuring that you join everybody together in that. He was a bit of a pied piper in that sense. Everybody wanted to get behind Craig Senger and join him in whatever he was doing at the time. On behalf of my community and on behalf of the parliament, our deepest condolences to the Senger family and all of his friends and colleagues, and to everybody connected with Nathan Verity and Garth McEvoy as well. Please may they get strength out of the knowledge that we pay them the regard that we do.

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to join with the member for Canberra in comments with regard to these tragedies. On 17 July, bombs exploded at the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta. At the Marriott three Australians were killed and a number of locals and other foreign nationals also lost their lives in the bombings. It is believed that there was an intention by the bombers to detonate a bomb in a hotel room, thereby driving greater numbers through the lobby of the Marriott for the main bomb blast. These events remind us yet again that there are evil, cowardly people in the world who live with no honour and no integrity. They have no regard for innocent life but are driven by reckless hate and a religious belief with which they justify their murderous work. These events remind us that, in this war, our enemies are prepared to do anything, and we must be prepared to fight them and to stop them.

I would also pay tribute to the efforts and commitment shown by the Indonesian government to fight Jemaah Islamiah. Their efforts to destroy that terrorist network have been very good, in the most challenging circumstances. We should also not forget that the President and the government of Indonesia operate in an extremely challenging environment. We must remember that Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world and that there is some support amongst the population for the operations, if not the beliefs, of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah. Within that context we should appreciate the great advances made by the Indonesians.

Although I despise the evil perpetrators of these acts of murder, my main purpose is to speak of those three Australians who died at the Marriott hotel blast. Those three Australians were Austrade official Craig Senger, mining executive Garth McEvoy and Perth businessman Nathan Verity. Firstly I will speak of the Austrade official, Craig Senger. I understand that Craig was on his first overseas posting and fulfilling his duty of advancing Australia’s interests when he was killed by the bomb. Overseas postings do not come easily in either Austrade or Foreign Affairs, and those that do get them are people of very high ability. Hard work before and hard work during his posting defined Craig Senger as a very effective representative of Australia and Australian businesses, particularly in the mining team for the South-East Asia region. He is survived by his wife, Kate, and I offer my deepest condolences to her and his family.

Garth McEvoy was an executive for the mining and construction company Thiess in Jakarta. He was for four years a Northern Territory policeman who went on to study the law and to work as a prosecutor in Darwin. He then moved into private enterprise. He is remembered by all who worked with him as being a very hard worker and dedicated to making a difference. He was, without doubt, highly regarded. He enjoyed living and working in Indonesia as a commercial manager, and he had a great affection for the people of that country.

Finally, I will speak of Nathan Verity, who was from Perth. Nathan Verity was a highly capable businessman who had worked in a variety of consultancy type positions. I understand that he worked very closely with Jim Truscott, a former SAS officer whom a number of us in this place know. Jim Truscott had also carved out a business in the Asia-Pacific region in crisis and risk management, and worked with Nathan Verity on those projects. Nathan Verity, however, branched out even more widely, moving also into recruitment. It is clear that he was very well regarded and had the sort of personality with which he could get on with anyone. There is something particularly tragic about the death of a parent of young children. Nathan Verity was married to Vanessa and was a father to five-year-old Chris. The particular tragedy I refer to is both the fact that Nathan will never see his son grow up and also that Chris will not have his dad around to do all the great dad things that we enjoy with our children, and that is a very great tragedy.

Some people say that these terrorists undertake their murderous attacks because of economic privation, Western oppression, Western action in Iraq or Afghanistan or because of other nebulous faults or grievances, which individually or together remain nothing more than whitewash over the truth. These terrorists are evil incarnate. They are brutal murderers without remorse or compassion. They live without honour, integrity or a sense of morality. They cannot be reasoned with and they cannot be negotiated with. They call themselves by different names, being Jemaah Islamiah in this case, but they are the same whether they be Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban, al-Qaeda or someone else. Regardless of what their name is, they live and kill with the same lack of humanity. They can be dealt with in only one way—by force. This will very likely be a fight and a war that will span generations. We should be ready and never lose our resolve to protect ourselves, our values and our way of life.

Debate (on motion by Mr Hayes) adjourned.