Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the people of Kingsford Smith I offer sincerest condolences to the families of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, who tragically passed away in the Lindt cafe siege on 15 December 2014. We offer our sympathy and support for those hostages who were fortunate to survive this senseless act. We thank and pay tribute to the New South Wales Police and our security and intelligence services for their work in bringing this terrible situation to an end.

On the morning of 15 December 2014, on the eve of Christmas, Martin Place was busy, as it usually is in the morning. Sydneysiders were going about their day. Many were on their way to work. Some were doing Christmas shopping in the city. Many of them were working in Martin Place. They were living their lives. Unfortunately, 18 of those Sydneysiders—mums and dads, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters—left home that morning with an expectation of seeing their loved ones in the evening, and for some, tragically, that did not occur.

On that morning at about 9.15, in the very popular Lindt cafe in Martin Place, horror struck. Pure evil was thrust upon the patrons of the Lindt cafe. Katrina Dawson was a very well respected and talented barrister, someone with a very big future at the New South Wales bar, a mother of three young children from a very, very generous family. Katrina's father, Sandy Dawson, was a long-term chairman of the Salvation Army in New South Wales. It was a role that he passed on to his son, Sandy Junior, who is currently the chairman of the Salvos in New South Wales. The family lives in Randwick, in our community. Katrina's husband, Paul Smith, is a very well respected partner at Mallesons law firm, where I worked prior to entering the parliament.

To Paul and the family, I simply say that words cannot do justice to the life of Katrina, a loved mother, a loved wife, and someone with a very big future, whose life was cut down in terrible circumstances. I say to Katrina's family that our community mourns with you. Our thoughts are with you. Know that if there is anything we can do to help you in any way, please feel free to get in touch.

Tori Johnson was a young man in the prime of his life. From all accounts, he was a very good manager and great with people. That showed through in his actions on the day. To the very end he worked to protect the patrons of his store. He was a leader—someone who ultimately gave his life undertaking that duty. To Tori's family, I say: we commiserate with your loss. We find your strength admirable. The fact that you harbour no hatred is a measure of the people you are, and that is inevitably why Tori was the person he was, and why he took those actions.

To the hostages who managed to escape, we say that we are here for you. John O'Brien, one of the first hostages who managed to escape the cafe tragedy, lives in our community. I have spoken to John on numerous occasions. He has relayed to me the troubles he has had in the wake of this terrible tragedy. To John and the other hostages, again we say: we are here for you. To any of those hostages, I know I speak for other MPs in this place when I say that if there is any way that we can help, feel free to pick up the phone and call, even if it is just to talk through things and through the events.

To the New South Wales Police we say an enormous thank you. Thank you for the work you do day-in and day-out, risking your lives to help others. Thank you for the training that you do, which showed through on the night of this terrible tragedy.

In the wake of events such as this we always have inquiries. There will inevitably be criticism of the roles that some have played. But know that that is part of the process of ensuring that in the future we do things better. It is not a criticism of individuals for going to work and doing their jobs. The only person to blame for what occurred in that cafe on that day is the gunman himself. Everyone else—the hostages, the staff, the police, the intelligence agencies, those that worked to end the siege—is a victim of his evil. Those involved, particularly our police force, deserve our praise, respect and thanks for the work that they do.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to offer my condolences, on behalf the electorate of Swan and the Western Australian people, to the families of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, and all the others who were involved in the siege that day. As you would know, many Western Australia families had to deal with the atrocities and suffering that came from terrorist acts of the Bali bombings on two occasions. I rise to pass on their best wishes and condolences to the families.

I, like many other Australians, awoke on 16 December to witness one of the worst events of inhuman behaviour ever seen in Australia—an atrocity that each day people wittingly, or perhaps sometimes inadvertently, invent new ways to unleash on our fellow man: murder. To simply call what took place at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Sydney's Martin Place murder does not, however, begin to describe the horror and the destruction of that day. It is not a strong enough word to describe how evil a person is who would hold people against their will for 16 hours, resulting in the death of an innocent man and woman who did nothing more than be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

While Australians have not been sheltered in our history from the brutalities of war, I believe all members in this place would agree that we as a nation have been relatively sheltered from the atrocities of terrorism. Terrorism is something that happens in other countries and to other people, even though Australians have been victims of terrorism overseas. That is the Australian mindset. It is what we told ourselves when 9/11 happened—and the London bombings, the Boston Marathon bombing and, closer to home, the Bali bombings—for, although we lost Australians that day, we placated ourselves in the knowledge that this act of terror did not occur on home soil and we as Australians were not the specific target.

On 16 December the face of terrorism could not have been harsher, more heart wrenching, more tragic or more of a reality check for all Australians. No Australian expects to wake up to such acts of terror on our home soil as we witnessed that day, particularly by someone who was accepted into our country and into our communities, to share all the prospects that our great nation offers each and that every one of us shares. That reality and its associated threat of home-grown terrorism is what made that fateful day even more frightening. On 16 December, it is true, Australia was rocked to its core, but our spirits were not broken, and nor will they be. Instead, the people of our nation joined together and stood united against all those who seek to do us harm, and we will do so into the future.

While 15 hostages of the Martin Place siege survived this horrendous ordeal, through their own courage to escape or through police officers' efforts to remove them from the cafe, there are two people who were not able to return to their loved ones. Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson are names this country will never forget. They will be remembered in each of our hearts for the courage they had in the face of insurmountable danger and for the lives they touched while they were with us.

Yes, our nation has been rocked, but many eyes have also been opened to the very real threat that we face in Australia from terrorism, not just abroad but here on our doorstep. Terrorism is a threat that seeks to destroy every one of us because of our unwavering belief in freedom, our belief in democracy and our belief in the right of every individual to live as they choose within the laws of this country. I do, however, highlight that this threat is not from Islam, the Muslim religion, as has too often been crassly publicised. The Muslim religion is one that preaches peace, in the same manner as Christianity and all other religions. No—this threat is from a group of radicals and extremists who are trying to spread their barbarism and their messages of hate and violence as far as they can, and the Sydney siege has shown us all that Australia is not immune. They have stolen the good name of Islam to pursue their fanatical terrorism.

We watch our televisions and we hear and see that 148 children were massacred by Taliban extremists during a raid on a Pakistan school on the same day as the Sydney siege, or we hear that more than 185 people, including women and children, were kidnapped by Boko Haram fighters in the north-east of Nigeria. We as a country do not accept or condone atrocities like that and what happened here—quite the opposite. We revile them and condemn them. But we also separate ourselves as Australians from such savagery. Now our hearts and our minds are open. When we think of terrorism, we will think of the 15 hostages who survived the Martin Place siege, and we will think of Katrina and Tori. But I also hope that we will think of the thousands of people who have been massacred and kidnapped by extremists this year and last year, let alone the thousands in years prior to that.

This is the reason we as a nation are doing everything we can to stop ISIL and to stop anyone who seeks to aid or join them here in Australia. As Australians, we have a responsibility and a duty to do whatever we can to prevent another attack like the Sydney siege, and to stop the slaughter of men, women and children in places such as Iraq and Syria which is happening not just every month or week but every day. This government, with the support of the opposition, has committed and will continue to commit Australian resources to achieve this, so that every Australian can continue to go about their normal lives with the knowledge and understanding that their government and police and intelligence services are doing everything they can to protect the safety of all Australian communities.

I commend all the volunteers who assisted in the collection of the tens of thousands of floral tributes and messages that were laid at Martin Place for Katrina and Tori and I commend the New South Wales Premier, Mike Baird, for his efforts in ensuring that all tributes were preserved until an appropriate memorial could be created. As I have said, this government is currently doing, and will continue to do, everything in its power to do prevent terrorism in Australia. As members know, this government has also implemented key legislation to strengthen Australia's national security by ensuring that our security agencies have the resources and authority they need to investigate suspected terrorist operations and the reasonable means to prevent acts of terrorism on home soil.

Western countries around the world are being faced with terrorism. We all stood shell-shocked as we watched the three-day reign of terror unfold in Paris last month, but it is what people around the world witnessed during and after those atrocities that depicts the core of our Western values and our need to protect them. We believe in peace, freedom of religion and generosity to our fellow man. Those are values that we should all be proud of. On 11 January we saw over 3.5 million people, including more than 40 world leaders, walk in a unity rally through Paris streets and across France to mourn the victims, to defend their freedom of expression and to stand united against the Islamic State. Hundreds of people in Sydney also joined the rally in Martin Place to express their own defiance against all those who seek to destroy our way of life and our values, and to pay respects to Katrina, to Tori and to each of the 17 victims of the Paris massacre. The message was clear that day and remains just as strong: we will not be defeated and we will not let these barbaric terrorists change who we are or what we stand for. We will stand united for Tori and Katrina and we will stand united for the thousands of people who have fallen victim to terrorism around the world.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of those thousands of people, and in particular to the loved ones of Tori, including his parents, Ken and Rosemary, his siblings, Radha and James, and his partner, Thomas. It also goes out to Katrina's husband, Paul, her children, Oliver, Sasha and Chloe, her parents, Sandy and Jane, and her brother, Angus. I know that many people have been touched by Katrina and Tori's personalities and lives and that they would have had a ripple effect across everyone they touched. As I said, on behalf of all Western Australians, I submit our condolences to the families. To Katrina and Tori: you will be remembered forever.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take the opportunity to also make a contribution in this place in support of the statements made to the parliament by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in recognition of what were terrible and tragic events that unfolded in Martin Place in Sydney on Monday, 15 December. Seventeen people started their days with the simple rituals that so many of us are familiar with—that is, buying a cuppa, having a quick catch up with friends or colleagues, grabbing a quick takeaway perhaps to take to work with them—and these 17 were then caught up in just over 16 hours, as the Leader of the Opposition said, of an 'unimaginable nightmare of one man's making'.

Like so many other Australians, as the member who spoke before me, the member for Swan, just outlined, I watched the events unfold with great concern for those who were caught in the cafe, and for their terribly anxious families and friends who waited and hoped for their safe release. We watched the police, the AFP and emergency service personnel as they worked professionally to achieve that result. And we grieved for the loss of two Australians who had a lifetime ahead of them; we grieved for their families and friends who had simply wanted them home.

We share the loss of Katrina Dawson, who was loved by a husband and three children, her wider family and very many friends. She was a person who was respected and, as the Leader of the Opposition acknowledged, a brilliant barrister. We mourn with the partner and family of Tori Johnson, who was the cafe's manager. A beautiful story emerged the next day of his kind and loving gesture to a Wollongong family, as reported in Fairfax Media newspapers by journalist Lisa Visentin, including in the Illawarra Mercury. I will just quote part of that story to the House. It said:

When Tori Johnson heard that six-year-old Henry Hinchcliff had never eaten a Easter egg, he was determined to fix the situation.

The Lindt cafe manager invited Henry and his family to visit him in Martin Place and collect a bag of Easter goodies he'd had specially made for them.

And so one day in April, Mercedez Hinchcliff and her children, Henry and Kate, set off from their home in Wollongong for the ultimate chocolate experience.

"It's definitely something that stuck out in his mind as being one of his best days," Mrs Hinchcliff said of her six-year-old son, who has a rare disease that limits his diet to fewer than 50 foods.

"It taught him that people go out of their way for people."

It was the only time Mrs Hinchcliff met Mr Johnson, 34, who was killed in the siege on his cafe, but the kindness he showed her family on that day has stuck with her.

The article tells us of a thoughtful and caring person lost to his partner, Thomas, his parents and his family.

The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and all members contributing in this debate pay our deepest respect to the families of Katrina and Tori and affirm our promise to hold them in our national heart. We extend that deep care and concern to all of the other hostages who survived the events but who still live with its effects, as do those who love them, and to the all the police and emergency personnel affected by that day and night. The legacy of this loss and suffering should be the renewed strength of our care and concern for all in our community and a reaffirmation that our national character is one that does not give into hate, to fear or to prejudice.

On 25 November last year I reported to this parliament about the formation of a wonderful group in my local area called Illawarra People for Peace. This is an association that was created to establish a commitment to peace and harmony throughout the Illawarra. It is comprised of members from the Lumen Christi Catholic Parishes in Wollongong, the Bilal Mosque in Cringila, the Omar Mosque in Gwynneville and the Church on the Mall in Wollongong; representatives from other faiths; and people who are community leaders, like myself and the member for Throsby. The group came together to form an organisation to promote peace between people of faith and people of no faith. It promotes coming together in harmonious ways in our communities.

On that occasion I reported to the House that we had gathered together for a large community barbecue. There were jumping castles, face painting and families just sharing a meal together and having a lovely time. On that occasion we heard from Father Aloysius Mowe from the Jesuit Refugee Service, who is a priest with a Malaysian background who has worked with both Christian and Muslim communities. He recited a very moving story of his own father's funeral in Malaysia. I said to the House at the time:

It was a wonderful event that I have to commend the organisers for. I look forward to many harmonious events in Wollongong in the future.

Only too soon, on 19 December, we saw the need to gather the group together again with our community to hold a peace service for those affected by the Martin Place siege. Local leaders, including our lord mayor and councillors, met in Market Square with families, children, students and individuals as well as a very strong presence of local police officers to demonstrate our determination to remain a united and peaceful community and nation. Gary Ismail and Father Ron Peters welcomed everyone and opened with a prayer, we heard a recitation with translation from the Koran and reading from Matthew's Gospels, the Beatitudes, and joined in silent reflection and prayer for peace.

I would also like to acknowledge the wonderful spontaneous participation of so many locals and so many Australians in the #illridewithyou hashtag action to express our rejection of any expression of hatred and division through social media. In my area this also developed into a very Illawarra event, as reported by Joshua Butler in the Illawarra Mercury on 17 December. He wrote:

The "I'll Ride With You" movement took over social media this week, a show of solidarity for Muslims who feared retribution in the wake of the Sydney siege.

A team of water safety educators hopes its "I'll Surf With You" tagline picks up as much steam.

A group of 11 Muslim women took to Sandon Point Beach on Wednesday for a safety program run by Surf Educators International and Welcome To Australia.

Afghan, Iraqi and Indonesian women learnt about rips and safe swimming, but Kathleen Bleakley of Illawarra Multicultural Services said the program had taken on new meaning after recent events.

"At a time like this, it's important to choose unity over division," she said. "It's about fun, but also helping people appreciate beach culture. It is such an important part of Australia, and it's good to welcome these women and have them be part of that."

Clara Saddi, of Welcome to Australia, said the program was trying to push the "I'll Surf With You" line as a way of encouraging Australians to interact and embrace those with foreign backgrounds.

"It's so easy to ask someone to the beach, and so rewarding to share that with someone," she said.

Husna Alatat arrived in Australia from Indonesia two years ago. She had swimming experience from home, but said Wednesday's program gave her a new appreciation of Australia's beach culture.

"I used to swim, but I got some information about things like swimming in the flags," she said.

"It has given me more confidence and knowledge."

Sadly, only today Illawarra journalist Agron Latifi has reported that the ugly face of racism reared its head again with an event that left local lady Nina Trad Azam 'shaken but far from beaten'. His story tells of an occasion last month when an elderly woman made racist comments and threw religious abuse at Mrs Azam as the pair waited in line to at Officeworks in Fairy Meadow. Mrs Azam also tells of the abuse she suffered 13 years ago by three young men in a car that caused her to stop wearing the hijab and that she had only recently found the courage to start wearing it again.

I would like to read directly from the conclusion to Mr Latin's article:

A medical practice manager and palliative care social worker, Mrs Azam only recently found the courage to wear the hijab again.

The 44-year-old said her desire for world peace is far greater than her desire to look attractive as a woman. She wants a stronger spiritual connection and is adamant that nothing will deter her from wearing the hijab - not even the "hate crime" on January 20.

"She [her abuser] was persistent in her determination to disempower, provoke and demonise me and my faith purely because I was wearing a hijab," Mrs Azam said.

"She said Muslims were all evil people who caused trouble all over the world.

"I tried to reassure her that she should not believe everything she hears in the media but she wouldn't let up," Mrs Azam said.

"Even when I tried to tell her about my experience of victimisation when I was seven months pregnant, she kept going, saying that Muhammad had 66 wives.

"Having devoted most of my life to voluntarily caring for the elderly, I was in fact shocked and genuinely hurt that she could be so hateful, bigoted and offensive without personally knowing me."

But it was only after Mrs Azam nearly drowned while kayaking that she decided to report the incident to police.

"I felt helpless, I felt stupid, I felt vulnerable and scared that I would drown but at the same time I was bargaining with God that if he helps me get back to my family I won't be the coward I was 13 years ago and I'll stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves," she said.

I will meet Mrs Azam next week, and she has reported the incident to the police, who are investigating. As so many others have stated in this place, in our communities and in our media; the tragedy and loss of Martin Place will not be replaced by fear and division in any of our communities.

Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to offer my condolences to the families of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, to the 16 hostages whose lives will forever be changed, to the many friends and families who are now left with a hole in their heart. To our police and emergency services: you have truly gone above and beyond the call of duty. We as an Australian community are blessed to be served and protected by such fearless and brave guardians.

Ten days before Christmas, we watched on, hopelessly, as an act of unspeakable evil unfolded before our eyes: Martin Place, a setting so familiar to so many Sydney-siders; the Lindt cafe, a venue that is home to the daily caffeine fix for inner-city workers—or, for me, a treat before or after a meeting in Martin Place. But it was in that familiar place that true evil showed its face. A man driven by mad hatred held 18 people at gunpoint, concluding with the tragic loss of two innocent lives—the tragic loss of Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson. Many people have remarked how ordinary yet extremely exceptional these two individuals were. Katrina: an expert lawyer, dux of her school, mother, daughter, wife and friend. Tori has been acknowledged as a man of honour and respect. He in fact worked with my cousin Melissa for many years. She remarked to me what a beautiful man he was, that he was a friend to everyone and that his death is an absolutely tragic loss.

The tragic loss of the lives of these individuals, cut down in their prime, is wrong in every sense of the word. The loss of their lives will never make sense to me—and perhaps it never should, because trying to fathom an answer, in a strange way, gives the perpetrator some sick type of credibility, and they do not deserve any of that. Sadly, the events of last year became a confirmation that home-grown terror in this country is so sad, but, sadly, it is real.

But Martin Place also became a place of resilience, or a line in the sand drawn by the Australian people, because as the horror of 15 and 16 December was realised, a single posy of flowers was laid as a mark of respect near the edge of the cordoned zone in Martin Place. Within hours, from a single tribute grew a field of flowers—a field that would grow to cover four areas of Martin Place as well as an area in Phillip Street, outside the offices where Katrina Dawson worked. A few days before Christmas, and it was surreal to be in Martin Place. There was an eerie quiet in the air as thousands of people stopped to line up and pay their tribute that week. People were quiet and courteous in a way that made it noticeable. The normal ebb and flow of people rushing about, for that short while, had disappeared.

The Christmas tree down at the George Street end felt so far away, and kind of out of spirit. And it seemed unbelievable that this all happened 10 days before Christmas, because 10 days before Christmas our home had changed forever; 10 days before Christmas it was not about shopping or Santa Claus; 10 days before Christmas it seemed that time itself was simply standing still, even as the GPO chimed. By Thursday evening you could stand beside the Lindt Cafe on Martin Place, and perhaps it was the saddest scene—workmates and friends using the seating there to congregate and comfort each other. There would be quiet talking and spontaneous tears, then silence. Then, perhaps between the embraces, someone talking. Others who did not know this group would simply stand nearby looking at the floral tributes. All of them walked away with tears in their eyes because, out of something vile and horrific, people power had prevailed. And flowing on from the day that it happened, a very simple hashtag: #illridewithyou. The resilience of the Australian people arose—our digger spirit, our camaraderie, our mateship. No evil we face will stop the peace we love in our country; no extremist will ever take away our freedoms. As a nation we stand united. We fight for our home—our Australia. And like that floral tribute that flowed, our national character stands stronger, more resilient, unified against evil. To the 16 survivors of that terrible day and night: you will forever be the guardians of that horrific event. You are the witnesses who must forever keep the bravery of Katrina and Tori alive. I know that for many of you that will be extremely hard, and I know that a number of you are still battling with the wounds and scars of that horrible event—people like Robin Hope from Emu Plains.

Robin was in the Lindt Cafe that morning with her daughter, Louisa—normal people doing a normal thing. But because of that day Louisa remains in hospital. Her left leg around her ankle and shin is still infected from the wounds caused when bullet shrapnel ricocheted around the room. She has had three operations and is having skin grafts. Robin had shrapnel removed from her shoulders, but she lives up to it as well. She simply says: 'At the end of the day, two people lost their lives. Our injuries are only setbacks.' But there is something else about Robin and Louisa Hope that makes them as heroic as Katrina and Tori. These two women made a pact; a pact that they were willing to die, willing to do whatever they could to let the younger ones escape. In the face of evil they made a decision to allow good the best chance of winning. They are heroes, but they did make the decision to be heroes. Of Katrina and Tori, Robin says: 'Katrina was a beautiful person, and she died beside me in hospital. Katrina was hit by police shrapnel. He didn't take two lives; he only took one.'

Let the chimes of the GPO clock forever bear witness to that horrible 16 hours, 10 days before Christmas, and let those chimes forever be a reminder of the 18 innocent people, and their families, whose lives will be forever changed. As Kenneth Slessor wrote about his mate, Joe:

Why do I think of you, dead man, why thieve

These profitless lodgings from the flukes of thought

Anchored in Time? You have gone from earth,

Gone even from the meaning of a name;

Yet something's there, yet something forms its lips

And hits and cries against the ports of space,

Beating their sides to make its fury heard.

Kenneth is describing how a person dies three times: the physical, the memorial service, and when the name at last is spoken or remembered. We must never forget Tori Johnson or Katrina Dawson. In closing, when we reflect on this event, we as a nation must always be stronger. And in the words of Jack Layton:

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world.

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think one of the reasons that the events of last year like MH17 and the Sydney siege affected us so much is that we could all imagine ourselves on that plane or in that cafe. A lot of terrible things happen every day here and overseas, but most of the time we imagine that it could never happen to us. But not this. This was different. A lot of us have been overseas on an aeroplane; even more of us get a cup of coffee in the morning on our way to work as part of our normal daily routine. I was in the Lindt Cafe only a couple of days before the siege; my wife goes there all the time. Like most Australians, on 15 December I was transfixed to the TV screen all day and all through the night. I sat there thinking about the people in the cafe just going about their normal routine until suddenly they were caught up in what can only be described as anyone's worst nightmare. I thought about their mums and their dads. I thought about their husbands and their wives receiving a phone call—or as it turns out, a text message—telling them that their loved ones were in there. They are still in our thoughts, and it was wonderful to see them in the gallery yesterday.

However, there were two people who were not in the gallery yesterday: Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson, victims of a sick and evil person and a warped, demented ideology. I rang a mate of mine who is a barrister in Selborne Chambers and I asked him if he knew Katrina. He did; he worked on the same floor as Katrina, and they had been friends for 10 years. The day before, Sunday, they had both been in their chambers working on different cases. Katrina had brought her kids into the office, and they were there laughing and joking and talking about what they were going to do for Christmas. He told me she was 'just lovely'. Because of the actions of a madman, this beautiful, bright, lovely person has gone forever. It is so unfair and so wrong. The same is true of Tori Johnson. And for those who survived—they carry with them the physical and mental scars of those 16 or so hours, and will continue to do so for the rest of their lives.

Later this month, the Prime Minister has promised to release a review by federal agencies into this tragedy. It is an important document. Two people died, and more could have. It is important that we ask the hard questions and look at what we need to do differently to try to stop something like this happening again. That is not an easy thing. But we owe it to the people that were in the gallery yesterday and we owe it to Katrina and Tori to do that. That includes looking at how we use intelligence to monitor deranged and fixated individuals like Man Monis and looking at what role the TAG East team, the 2nd Commando tactical assault group based at Holsworthy, should play in situations like this, given their extraordinary capabilities.

Finally I just want to say something about the community response in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy. I expected, and I think many people expected, the sort of backlash against the Muslim community that we saw in September last year after the police raids, where people were spat on, pushed and abused. But that did not happen. We saw something very different in December. A Muslim friend of mine who visited the makeshift memorial flooded with flowers on several occasions told me about one of those visits. He was crying, and an Anglo-Celtic woman came up to him, put her arm around him and said, 'Are you okay?' As tears rolled down his face, she gave him a hug. This Muslim mate of mine said that he had never felt like he belonged as much as he did at that moment, and I think there is a very special message for us in that.

What is happening in Iraq and Syria is a lightning rod for deluded people who want to go there and fight or want to wreak terrible damage here at home—people poisoned by a putrid ideology, triggered into action by what they see on TV, what they read on their phone, their tablet or their computer at home, or what they hear in a prayer hall. Ottawa, Paris and Sydney are all evidence of that. But if the purpose on that day was to divide us then it failed. It has only brought us closer together. It has only helped my mate to feel like he belongs. And that is a message that we should all take with us—a message of hope in the midst of all this violence and pain.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The events around the siege of the Lindt cafe in Sydney's Martin Place on 15 and 16 December last year were indescribably tragic. In rising to speak on this important motion, may I extend my deepest and heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson for their tragic loss, and may I also associate myself with the remarks of the Prime Minister and of other members who have spoken so far in this place in honouring their lives.

In remember Katrina and Tori, we also remember those who demonstrated such courage in the Lindt cafe. The men and women who were held would truly have undergone a life-changing experience that all of us here would find quite tough to comprehend, let alone to process. It is thanks to our law enforcement and security agencies and emergency services personnel that this difficult and dangerous situation was not made worse, and I thank them. The courage and focus of all those involved in this most difficult of scenarios is to be commended. This was an act of terror we hoped would never occur in this country, and it is a sobering reminder that the threats we hear about beyond our shores can strike here.

But tonight I rise on behalf of my community as the member for Robertson to speak in honour of one of our own. Tori Johnson is a former student at Terrigal High School, and I know that there are many in my community who have been touched and changed personally by this tragedy because they were touched and forever changed for the better because they were lucky enough to know Tori.

In the aftermath of this testing day for our country, many people from the Central Coast community gathered at Martin Place in Sydney, where the steadfast response of Australians to this tragedy was so clear and so beautiful. The sight of thousands and thousands of flowers and petals side by side in unity of grief at this awful event certainly moved me deeply, as I know it did millions of others. Locally, another impromptu memorial with messages and flowers was also set up in Terrigal, where people in the community could sign a tribute book. It was set up by a local resident, Jordyn Steel. Ms Steel told our local newspaper, the Central Coast Express Advocate, that just an hour after she put the book at the war memorial at Terrigal there was a handwritten message from a child which simply read, 'I prayed for you.'

In Terrigal, former schoolmates of Tori Johnson have since described him as a sensitive, strong and loyal friend who always put others' needs above his own, and I think that was demonstrated on that day. He was part of the class of 1998, which I understand is a very tight-knit group of friends on the Central Coast. Others who knew him, and those who knew his family, spoke movingly and sincerely about his talent, his artistic nature and the fact that he was a good listener to all those he talked with. They described him as a very loving man, as perfect and as a loving son. It came out a number of times that Tori was a very, very loving son. He loved gardening, because he loved nature and creativity. He was often seen in the gardens of people's homes on the Central Coast, gardening, doing what he loved and being with his family.

These are all wonderful, timeless, honourable traits of a man lost far too soon. May his legacy and his love of life, of people, of friends, of family, of nature and of the beautiful country in which we live be an enduring reminder of all that we can be and, indeed, all that we are as individuals, as a community and as Australians. I commend this motion to the House.

Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the things that strikes me about the job of a parliamentarian is how often we touch tragedy—how often we find ourselves speaking in our communities or in this place about those who have passed. Sometimes there is, amidst the sadness, a sense of satisfaction—of a full life lived well—as there will be shortly, when this House pays tribute to Tom Uren. But at other times the pain is overwhelming, as it is in the case of young lives cut short in the midst of their success. The member for Robertson has spoken movingly of Tori Johnson, one of the two victims of this tragedy. I want to speak about Katrina Dawson.

Katrina Dawson was at Sydney university law school a couple of years after me; I was closer in cohort to Sandy Dawson, her brother. But Katrina's brilliance shone strongly. She scored a perfect hundred in her HSC. She was a star of the Sydney bar. She had three extraordinary young children and she touched so many lives. The former Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, has spoken about Katrina Dawson's example. Those at the Sydney bar have spoken about her role in mentoring women there. She worked in the Redfern Legal Centre, for Medecins Sans Frontiers and for Make a Wish at the Starlight Foundation. She has been honoured by Ascham School and the principal there, Andrew Powell, has noted how she was affectionately known as 'Tree' in her student years. Friends of mine at the Sydney bar have spoken about how the loss of Katrina Dawson has left a hole in their lives—about how they looked forward so much to her presence at the Sydney bar, to her intellectual brilliance and her sense of warmth. And, as somebody who is the father of three children, I can only imagine what it is like for those three little children to be growing up now without their mother.

The Leader of the Opposition put it beautifully, I thought, when he said:

We understand that no words in this place or elsewhere can restore that vanished touch or bring back a voice too soon silenced. All we can offer is Australia's embrace—a promise to honour forever the memory of those lost to you and to all of us.

We honour, too, the police officers whose first instinct when shots rang out was to run towards the danger, not away from it. Without their swift response more lives would surely have been lost. We offer our condolences to all of the family and friends of the innocents and to the survivors whose lives, too, have been scarred by this awful tragedy.

But as others have noted in this debate, as we grieve there is also a shared hope that, through this tragedy, there may arise a source of strength. One such source of strength arose when, watching a Muslim Australian on a train silently remove her hijab on 15 December—the day of the tragedy—Brisbane woman Rachel Jacobs stopped her and said, 'Put it back on. I'll walk with you.' Reading this account on Twitter, Sydneysider Tessa Kum started the hashtag #illridewithyou; and soon hundreds of thousands of Australians were offering to take public transport alongside Muslim Australians. My favourite tweet came from Sean Murphy who wrote:

I am an Australian atheist and #illridewithyou (I am also 6'2 and very muscular, so no-one will mess with us)

If violent ideology has a counterpart, it is the 'I'll ride with you' movement. It is grounded in the Australian values of egalitarianism, multiculturalism and mateship. It is a reminder that love is not simply more beautiful than hate, it is also stronger, funnier and more imaginative. I commend the motion to the House.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to echo the remarks of other members of this House in welcoming this motion we have before us today. If there is a beating heart of the city of Sydney, it is hard to think of anywhere that has more of a sense of place than Martin Place. It is the centre of our commercial district—a place where people gather to meet with friends, to reminisce with each other and to visit together at daily lunches and meals. That is exactly why people in Sydney have been so affected by the events we saw on 15 and 16 December 2014 during the 16½-hour stand-off.

People in Sydney understand that any single person in the city of Sydney, at any given time, could have been in that cafe at that moment and subject to those events. We saw the horrors of a terror attack here on our own soil for the first time—and also the bravery of all of the victims of this awful tragedy, including Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, who are no longer with us. I particularly want to say, on behalf of my electorate, that Katrina Dawson and her family were well known to the Hills community and to my community in the Dural area. She was a gifted barrister and a mother of three—Chloe, Oliver, and Sasha. Her loving husband, Paul, her parents, Sandy and Jane, and her brothers, Sandy and Angus, have lost a dear member of their family. It is such a great tragedy for my community and for the city of Sydney that this occurred in this place and in this way.

Perhaps the most affecting moment we have seen in this House for some time was seeing all the hostages—minus, of course, Katrina and Tori—and their families here in the gallery this week. You could read the emotion on their faces—the tears and the horror and the underlying strength within them—while they were listening to the Prime Minister. Every member of this House was affected by seeing them here in person and every member of this House has the utmost respect for all the people that were affected by this tragedy and their families.

These events have brought out the best in our country. They are a reminder that we share our values of liberty, individual rights and freedom and our fundamental respect for each other as human beings. They have drawn out the most significant and positive outpouring of grief that we have seen here in our nation for some time.

The Martin Place tributes brought everyone together from Sydney, from all walks of life and all corners of our city, to pay tribute to the lives lost, to the bravery and to the victims and their families. It was the most welcome outpouring that we could expect from our society. It brought out the best in all of us. Regardless of how you look at it, we ought to be proud of the way our society has responded to something so damaging and difficult for us to deal with. The strength of the police and all those who handled this tragedy is to be admired and congratulated. Plenty of people had put their lives on the line to do their jobs, to ensure our freedom and liberty was secure. I pay tribute to the police and the operation they ran and to all of our security services that keep us so safe.

The real story of this tragedy is that we have some significant failings in our system. I thank the Prime Minister for immediately announcing that there will be a serious and substantive review of all facets of the tragedy and implications of it. It is important at these junctures that we examine the hard things honestly, that we ask what failings there are in our system that could allow for someone who had such malice in his soul not just to commit this particular atrocity but to have had a lifetime of ill treatment towards others. If you examine the life of this evil figure, there is a litany of wreckage of human lives and a litany of wreckage of our society.

There has to be a point where we can say: enough is enough. We have to stop such people. We have to identify such people. We have to prevent such people. This person's ex-wife was stabbed to death and burnt—set alight in a stairwell. Other victims of his infamy have come forward. We need to ask ourselves: how did this happen and how can we ensure that similar people, and I have no doubt there are others, can be prevented from doing such things in the future?

I welcome the review and report that will come. We must, together as a House, together as a parliament and together as a nation have no boundaries for dealing with these sorts of issues. We are all together on this. We all want to prevent this violation of human rights, we all want to protect our freedoms and liberties and, most of all, we all want to prevent a repeat of such an awful tragedy—for the people involved and the families who have now suffered so much from the actions of someone so terrible.

I end by praising our leaders of all sides of politics—whether that be the Prime Minister and the opposition leader here in this place, the Premier, who was magnificent in the hour called upon him, the police commissioners or those of us who were asked something, all of us have responded from the top of our society all the way down to the ordinary street level. Every Australian has responded in a way that we can be proud of.

To the families and loved ones, our thoughts and prayers are with you during the unimaginable grief that you would be experiencing. We pray for all of those to recover who are still injured. I am so proud of the unity of all Australians. I commend this motion to the House.

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with this motion and the comments made by all members of this place. I believe this is an incident where we will look back—we even do that now—and know the place, the moment, we were when we learnt that this terrible tragedy had begun.

Going to my diary, I see it very clearly. I remember—as many of my colleagues would—it was a Monday morning, and a lot of us would have been attending school presentations. I left my office and went to Seven Hills Public School. Somewhere between going to Seven Hills Public School and Schofields Public School, straight after it, I happened to check my phone and saw the headline that a siege was taking place in the middle of the city.

I did what I think thousands of people did: I rang my loved one. When I did not get an answer I panicked, and I kept ringing. Finally, when my husband called back—his office being literally down the road from where these events were taking place—I screamed at him, 'Where are you?' He said he was fine. Unfortunately for so many people, too many people who made that call did not get an answer. They were attempting to call loved ones who had been taken hostage.

I raise these things not to presume that anyone is particularly interested in my day-to-day movements but simply to emphasise that this was a normal day. This was a normal day for Sydney. It was a normal day for everyone, including us members of parliament. When we went to bed that night we went to bed uneasy. We went to bed after having watched the live footage. We went to bed praying for a peaceful end to this outcome. It was not to be.

For me, and I am sure for a lot of Australians, I could not stop thinking about Katrina Dawson's children, more than anything else. There is that awful moment—I know it—for some of us when you wake up and remember that your mother has died. I remember that having happened as a child. It is the worst feeling I believe you will ever feel. I felt so much for those three children.

As it transpired, when we learnt the identities of the two deceased, Katrina Dawson was well known to my husband. He was at Mallesons before becoming a partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. He knew Katrina in her capacity as a solicitor and barrister. He attended the service for Katrina and came home with the service booklet. Just to see the photos from that booklet, there was a woman so full of life. There were photos from her wedding day. A photo with the love of her life, her husband, and a photo of her in her wedding dress holding a cat—a cat that obviously meant something very important to her.

Something that I think a lot of people were considering at the time was how Sydney was going to react to this terrible tragedy. Above all else, this was a perpetrator who sought to divide us. But instead I do not think even he could comprehend how much he brought us together. On the Wednesday, along with a lot of other people who had been doing so for some time earlier, I happened to be in the city and I managed to obtain some flowers. It was actually very hard to find flowers in the city. As I came up through Martin Place Station, I just wanted to place them on the side quietly, which I did, and walk away in silent prayer. But you could not help but be moved by seeing the number of people and the sheer scale of that floral tribute to Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson in particular. I was in the city again last week and I happened to be walking down Martin Place at the moment when I saw the scaffolding being taken down around the Lindt Cafe. Even then the people of Sydney stopped with reverence and paused and I believe that in their hearts, just as I did, said a prayer for Tori and Katrina.

One of the things to come out of this aside from the fact that this unified our community rather than divided it was that we got to know what beautiful people Tori and Katrina were and what beautiful families they had. It actually comes as no surprise to learn that this is how the children of those families grew up. The inquest, of course, started very recently, and it would be a very difficult time for all those involved, just as it was obviously a very difficult time for those who were in the gallery yesterday.

For the soul mates of Tori and Katrina, for Katrina's children, this is going to be, obviously, a very difficult time. It will also be a very difficult time for one of my constituents: Marcia Mikhael, a 43-year-old mother of three from Glenwood, where I live, who was one of the victims. It does raise the issue, I believe, of how one as a member of parliament conveys the feelings of one's local community to the families and the victims. I do not say this to trivialise the issue but to point out that it was actually quite a vexed question. Do I send flowers to her home? Do I send flowers to the hospital? Do I send a card? Do I put a message on social media? The reality is that, at the end of it, I believe that all those victims ended up knowing that they were in the hearts of all Australians. I believe that all Australians demonstrated the best of themselves and the best of our country in their response.

At the memorial service for Katrina Dawson it was reported that Ms Dawson's mother made the comment, 'We are adjusting to sharing our wonderful daughter with the world.' Both Katrina and Tori Johnson have indeed been shared with the world. They have been shared in the most wonderful way of remembering them, remembering the fruitful lives that they led. In associating myself with this motion and the comments, I would like to conclude by praising all personnel who were involved in bringing this incident, this tragedy, to an end—all of our police force and everyone involved in caring for the victims, all those health professionals and all those professionals who will still have a job to do from here on, including everyone from the inquest to the ongoing care of the victims and their families.

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great sense of sorrow and feeling of loss that I rise to speak to this condolence motion. We stand today reflecting upon the events of the 15th and 16th of December 2014. It was a day that started like any other which would soon be forever altered by an unimaginable act of terror. Like many people who work in the Sydney CBD, in a previous career I sat many times with work colleagues at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe at Martin Place enjoying a cup of coffee and having meetings. When I heard of this tragedy I thought straightaway of my previous work colleagues who worked directly across the road in Elizabeth Street. I thought about the amount of time that I myself had spent in that cafe.

Never could we envisage how the routine activity of meeting friends, family or coworkers for a coffee or chocolate would become a living nightmare, and tragically it did—a nightmare that saw 10 customers and eight employees of the Sydney Lindt Chocolate Cafe enduring 16 hours of being held hostage by a lone gunman blinded by religious idealism in the extreme; 16 hours that are now remembered as a time when Sydney stared terror in the face; 16 hours that many of us remained glued to the television set. I myself, like the member for Greenway, went to bed that night hoping that everything would be okay, waking up in the morning to find that, tragically, two innocent young people had lost their lives.

Hostages Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson tragically lost their young lives. They were two brilliant, talented and much-loved individuals with so much potential and opportunity ahead of them. Every Australian will remember Katrina and Tori for their bravery and tragic loss. On behalf of the Dobell community I extend my deepest and heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson. As Australian families celebrated the Christmas season with their loved ones we all paused to remember Katrina's husband, Paul Smith, and their three children—Chloe, aged eight; Oliver, aged six; and Sasha, aged four—along with Tori's partner, Thomas Zinn.

The Central Coast united in grief over the tragic loss of Katrina and Tori. The loss of Tori Johnson, a former student of Terrigal High School, brought this horrific crime home to many Central Coast residents. Our nation's collective grief manifested itself in floral tributes, which spread throughout Martin Place and also Terrigal beach. Never before had Australia's rejection of and resilience to terror and hatred been so beautifully demonstrated in floral tributes. Ordinary Australians descended upon Martin Place to pay their respects and lay a floral tribute. I heard so many stories from residents of the Central Coast who actually travelled to Sydney to mourn and pay their respects.

We also united to thank and acknowledge the efforts of our law enforcement and emergency services personnel. This terrifying event demonstrated what law enforcement and emergency service personnel do every day, which is to abandon their own safety in difficult and dangerous situations to help protect others, and for that we are eternally grateful. We are immensely grateful and proud of their service to our community in this nation and we thank them.

Australians of all races and religions united to illustrate the power of what makes us Australian. Our unity will always prevail over those who seek to divide us. Instantaneously, we reached out to one another and were bound by common values. The various paths that make our great nation the nation that it is converged into one—a united people defiant in the face of adversity and tragedy. We struggled to comprehend how, in a country as richly diverse as ours and as peaceful as ours, someone could be so intent on destroying our social fabric.

Last year, I spoke in this parliament about the greatness of Australia. I spoke about how Australia is the lucky country and how a democracy was not born from bloodshed, civil uprising or war. We are the envy of the world and sadly those who disagree with our democratic freedom pose a constant threat to everything that makes us unique. Last year, I said in parliament that for many Australians the threat of terrorism may seem a world away. Following the events of the Martin Place siege, this is no longer the case. Australia has lost its innocence to those who hate our freedoms and values. Many people never imagined such an event transpiring on our soil.

We are all too familiar with images each night on the news depicting intolerance abroad, but never in our own backyard. Like those in Paris who marched in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, the people of Sydney and all Australians stand tall and defiant in the face of terrorism. We speak as one in that we will not tolerate hatred in our community. We will not tolerate those who sympathise with terrorist organisations or those willing to cause Australians harm due to their own reckless actions. We are stronger than ever before in our defiance of those who hate us and seek to do us harm.

Australia is a beacon of hope and liberty throughout the world. Our values will never be compromised by those who want to suppress the freedoms of innocent men, women and children. Our resolve has never been stronger. In time, Martin Place and the streets of Sydney will return to normal. We will never forget those tragically lost and those who suffered in this terrible act of hatred and madness, nor will we forget the reasons behind this attack or our resolve to ensure the safety of Australia and her people.

We join with the family and friends of the victims of the siege and with a united voice say we will never surrender to the hatred of a minority. We will forever remember this atrocity. We will forever remember the victims. I express my deepest condolences to the families of Katrina and Tori, their friends and work colleagues, and the communities whose lives have been touched and changed forever by this heartless tragedy. We should never forget those injured and those who escaped this tragedy, and ensure we support them as they deal with the horror they endured whilst held captive. I commend this motion to the House.

Debate adjourned.