Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—On 15 December last year, as Australians were going about their normal activities in the busy period leading up to Christmas, truly horrendous events occurred in the heart of the commercial centre of our largest city. The actions of a lone gunman—taking hostages, 10 customers and eight employees, in the Lindt cafe in Martin Place, Sydney—and the aftermath horrified and shocked all Australians. After a tense, heart-wrenching 16-hour stand off and the heroic work of New South Wales and federal police and emergency service officers, the siege ended. As the siege ended, two of our fellow Australians—two innocent people, both of whom had left to go about a normal day's business and work that morning—did not return home later that day. One employee of the cafe and one customer lost their lives, three hostages and one police officer were wounded, and the lone gunman, who perpetrated this evil, was himself dead.

As our Prime Minister said when the siege was unfolding, Australia is a peaceful, open, and generous society. He urged Australians to respond in that way and not to allow the actions of this man to affect their daily lives. The Premier of New South Wales, Mr Mike Baird, similarly said that Sydney would be tested and that the test would be whether we are the strong, democratic and civil society that we all strive for Australia to be. The test of the nature of our society was met. Australians from all walks of life responded strongly, not to be deflected from their daily lives by this sort of unthinkable atrocity. The actions of the perpetrator were rightly condemned by the Grand Mufti of Australia. Fifty Muslim organisations signed a joint statement condemning the perpetrator's actions and repudiating them as having no legitimacy in their faith.

Today we reflect on the victims of this senseless act. Katrina Dawson, aged 38, a highly-respected barrister developing her career, had been having a morning coffee with a friend. She, of course, will never return to her loving husband and children. Tori Johnson, aged 34, the manager of the Lindt cafe, by all accounts worked to keep the spirits of the hostages up during those awful hours. To the devastation of his family and wider circle of friends, he too lost his life. The public reaction, first with a few floral tributes and suddenly growing into a massive field of flowers, was seen across the television screens and newspapers not only of Australia but right around the world. Prominent Australians, the Governor-General, the Prime Minister, the Premier and the opposition leader, all laid flowers. The families of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson bravely laid their own tributes as well. Most poignant was the outpouring of stoic grief and shock from Australians from all walks of life. Whatever their age, beliefs, ethnic background or any other characteristic, thousands and thousands went to Martin Place to silently place their flowers. By this simple action, each of them was silently saying: 'We do not bow to terrorism. We do not bow to actions like this. We are a strong and cohesive society and we share values of tolerance and liberty, but hatred, revenge and religious extremes have no place in our Australia.'

On behalf of government senators, I express deep sympathy to the families of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, and our good wishes to all the other hostages involved, all of whom experienced a horrible ordeal. Our thoughts are also of course with those that were injured, both physically and emotionally. I express unqualified admiration to the professional police and emergency service officers, including ambulance officers and paramedics, for how they responded to the siege. It is unimaginable to think how any one of us would have responded and the pressure that these emergency service personnel were under; it is something that I personally salute and thank them for.

I congratulate the Dawson family on their exceptionally selfless action in the days after Katrina's death, announcing the establishment of the Katrina Dawson Foundation to support the education of women, and also the Baird government for their decision to establish a permanent memorial at Martin Place, using the flowers placed there as the basis of a garden of remembrance.

15 December 2014 was a day that turned into one that changed the lives of many, and today the Senate reflects on them and honours the memory of the two innocent lives taken at Martin Place and those lives that will continue to bear the scars. But we have no doubt that the Australian spirit of tolerance, civil society and democracy will prevail, because it must. I thank the Senate.