Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As is relatively well known, I carry in my handbag a copy of two important things that matter a great deal to me, the United Nations declaration on human rights and my rosary beads. But, after my experience on Tuesday evening, I believe I might need to make a regular small addition of a small blue booklet commonly known as the Australian passport. I have always appreciated it, but the way it was revered by fellow Australians on Tuesday evening at Sydney Airport gave that little blue book a brand-new tinge in my eyes.

At Sydney Airport, in a specifically sealed terminal, I saw elated Australians waving their small Aussie passports with tears in their eyes, tears of joy, and happiness on faces, beaming with the knowledge that they had finally come home. I saw them reunited with their loved ones, safe in Australia. You can imagine, colleagues, the full range of emotions that were on display. They were people of all shapes and sizes, people of different faiths, people who were on holidays, people living right near the border with Gaza in kibbutz and people who were of deep faith, old and young, and friends of ours from the Pacific who had returned on the plane as well. As the families embraced each other, I witnessed the great weight that they had been carrying melt away and the worry that murder might be on the other side of a door slipping away with the importance of peacefulness in Australia. They understood in body and spirit that they were safe at last.

I also witnessed the great strength of community welcome and the support for those who were arriving. I want to acknowledge the leadership of my colleague in the New South Wales parliament, Premier Minns, and the amazing service team who gathered around that evening at short notice to provide an incredible service to these returning Australians. Rabbi Mendel Kastel stood alongside a Hebrew translator. DFAT were there, and the returnees were full of praise for what DFAT and the Australian government had done for them. The Red Cross, social workers from the New South Wales government, Superintendent Hart, of the New South Wales Police Force, Australian Border Force and the National Emergency Management Agency were all there ensuring that every single person was accounted and cared for. Rabbi Mendel Kastel, I might add, was also anxiously waiting for his daughter to arrive on the next emergency flight, and he gleefully showed us the images of her that the foreign minister, Minister Wong, had tweeted just days before.

I echo every single one of the arrivals when I say thank you to DFAT, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, the Prime Minister and particularly our colleague in the Senate, Senator Penny Wong, for their tireless efforts in getting our citizens home. It was truly a monumental effort, and I know it is ongoing as we try to offer our support to the Australians still in Israel and trapped in Gaza in this very difficult situation. I note that there are 45 Australians known to still be in Gaza, and we are doing everything as a government to bring them home.

I sincerely hope that I too might get to welcome them home, because an Australian is an Australian is an Australian. It doesn't matter your race, creed, profession, ethnicity or background. We're all united in our faith in our democracy and in the equal dignity of each person in this great continent that Dorothea Mackellar called our 'wide brown land'. The Australian government will always stand up for Australians. That is what this beautiful country guarantees you, and, on Tuesday night, holding up their blue passports with the emu and the kangaroo, I couldn't have seen a prouder bunch of Australians.