Alicia Payne
Canberra · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“This week, the Parliamentary Friends of the People of Afghanistan farewelled the ambassador of Afghanistan, His Excellency Mr Wahidullah Waissi, with the Afghan embassy in Canberra to close at the end of this month.”
“They highlighted the need for sustained international engagement and renewed focus on protection and access to education for Afghan women and girls.”
“Australia works with established United Nations partners to ensure our support helps those in need, but not the Taliban regime. The world must not turn away from the situation that women and girls in Afghanistan face.”
“They also requested that Australia call for gender apartheid to be codified as a crime against humanity. In January, the Australian government committed a further $50 million in humanitarian support to the people of Afghanistan to address the deteriorating situation there.”
“In Afghanistan, under the Taliban, girls and women are barred from secondary schools, universities and other educational and vocational training centres. Most employment is forbidden, as is participation in public and political life, and women must be completely covered and accompanied by a male relative in public.”
“Henry and his family are advocating for this drug to be added to the PBS for children under 12 as well, in the hope that more families' lives can be changed, and I was pleased to discuss this with him yesterday.”
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“I want to acknowledge as well Assistant Minister Kearney for her longstanding commitment to improving women's health and all the work she had done in that space first as a nurse, then as a union leader and then in her role in parliament. The clinic at Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT means that people in our community can now access the specialised care and support that they need closer to home—care and support that is built for them and built around their needs. Importantly, this work is being reinforced locally, and I'd like to highlight the ACT government's inquiry into endometriosis and other pelvic pain conditions. This inquiry is helping to shine a light on the lived experiences of many women across the ACT who are managing chronic pain, often without the recognition and support that they deserve.”
“With these clinics operating around the nation, we are seeing real, tangible change, because these clinics make an immense amount of difference for women and girls who have lived with debilitating pain without diagnosis or treatment, and we are working to expand what they can offer. All 33 clinics are now being expanded to deliver menopause and premenopause care as well, and we will ensure that women are supported at every stage of life. In 2024 I had the opportunity to join the former assistant minister for health and aged care, Ged Kearney, at the announcement to establish the endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic right here in Canberra.”
“There are so many women who have experienced shocking years of their pain being dismissed, and I want to acknowledge that today as well as what it meant for them to share those stories and what that has meant in terms of policy and changes in medicine. I also want to acknowledge my predecessor, the former member for Canberra, Gai Brodtmann, who used her role in parliament to do a lot to shine a light on this and worked really tirelessly to highlight endometriosis. The Labor government is recognising these gaps, and we're doing the work to actively address them. We've said we would open endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics across the country. We originally promised 22, but we've now delivered 33, including one here in the electorate of Canberra.”
“I want to acknowledge all the women, some of them calling themselves 'endo warriors', who have shared their very personal stories and their battles within the healthcare system, because it is those stories and their standing up and sharing these experiences that have led to change, to a recognition of this disease, to bettering our understanding of what these women are going through and to recognition within the medical system. From my electorate, there are a couple of names that come to mind. One is Caitlyn Tough MLA. Another is Ellie Angel-Mobbs, who's been a radio presenter in Canberra. There is also Ella Blackamore, whose horrific story we read about in the Canberra Times this weekend. But there are so many more.”
“I'm very proud to rise in favour of a motion that speaks to a turning point when it comes to how we view women's health, and I acknowledge the significant milestone that it represents for women and girls across Australia. I want to thank the member for Lalor for bringing it to the parliament, and I acknowledge the previous member's contribution to shining a light particularly on the experience of regional women. For far too long, women's health has not been taken seriously, and too many women and young girls have had their serious pain and suffering dismissed. Too many women have been left unsupported when they needed it most. Too many women have fallen through the gaps in our healthcare system, waiting years for diagnosis and care.”
“I love seeing students getting engaged with the budget, and our parliament more generally. There is such a great opportunity for this here in Canberra, and the budget is such a great opportunity for young economics students to see economics in action and be inspired. I'd really like to see more schools in Canberra get in touch with me if they're interested. And thanks again to everyone who engaged with my competition this year.”
“By enforcing financial penalties, major companies will quickly realise that this is an unfair and inequal practise that they can easily stop, just by spending a small amount of extra money. Altogether, as treasurer, I would ensure that women pay the same prices as men, creating a ripple effect that will change the entire world for the better. Congratulations again, Imogen, for your excellent speech. As the prize for her speech, Imogen and her mother were my guests at the Treasurer's budget speech on Tuesday night. Imogen, it was a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for your advocacy for a more gender equal economy. I also want to acknowledge St Clare's College's engagement each year with the budget. It also had a year 11 economics class and their teacher, Philip Coe, come and visit. We get them tickets for the budget speech.”
“Women are already earning less than men, only 79c for every $1 men earn, and these increased prices just to make thousands of lives more difficult. If I were treasurer for the day, I would ensure that the pink tax disappears from our supermarkets, forever. By ensuring prices for women's items are dropped and penalties are enforced on companies that continue with this despicable behaviour, women around Australia will have more accessibility to these products and health issues will reduce. We are not in medieval times. Women should not have to make makeshift period products purely because they cannot afford branded items. Sadly, this is the reality for many women today. Supermarkets and major companies do not listen and acknowledge our needs, and this must change.”
“This year I again ran my budget speech competition for year 10, 11 and 12 students in my electorate. It posed the question: if you were the Treasurer, what would be the one big idea you'd like to see in the budget? I'm so grateful to all the students who entered, and I congratulate them for their excellent ideas and really fantastic writing skills. We had entries on topics as varied as youth mental health to free school meals for every Australian school student. I'm really pleased to announce that Imogen Polder, a year 10 student from St Clare's College, was the winner of the competition. Imogen wrote about the pink tax, and she said this: Why do I have to pay more for pink razors compared to blue razors? Why are products suddenly more expensive when they're designed for women? This is not just annoying, it's completely unfair!”
“On that front, we're also building long-term fuel resilience by increasing our fuel reserves to 50 days and we're requiring gas companies to reserve 20 per cent of their supply to the Australian market. The 2026 budget is a strong Labor budget, one that makes Australians more resilient and builds an economy that works for everyone. I'm also really proud of a measure in the budget that is helping more young Australians avoid homelessness. We know that too many young Australians are facing homelessness and that young people have no chance of building their futures if they don't have a stable home, and so I'm really proud that we are investing in helping social housing to make that fairer.”
“Our national institutions are receiving an additional $20.2 million so they can continue to do their vital work of telling our nation's story. In that, it includes $9.9 million for the National Film and Sound Archive and $3 million for the Museum of Australian Democracy as it prepares for its centenary. We're ensuring that the CSIRO's groundbreaking research continues with an additional $387.4 million of funding on top of the extra $278 million announced last year. And for small business, we've made the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent. For people considering switching to an electric vehicle, we've locked in the FTB discounts until 2029 and beyond. We know that the stronger the uptake of EVs, the less exposed we are to shocks when oil prices spike.”
“We're reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax arrangements to ensure that more young Australians will have the opportunity to buy their first home—this is something that many Canberrans have raised with me—and we're putting in $50 million for the ACT's share of the local infrastructure fund to unlock more housing supply, building the power, roads and drains needed for new housing developments. We're also investing $30 million for a new RSPCA animal welfare campus at Pialligo. The RSPCA is a much-loved and very important organisation in our community. We're investing $50 million, matched by the ACT and New South Wales governments, to upgrade the Canberra to Sydney rail link—something that has been a long time coming.”
“Last night the Albanese Labor government handed down its most ambitious budget yet—a budget of resilience and reform, one that helps Australians through a global oil shock, with real cost-of-living relief right now, while building a stronger, fairer economy for the longer term. I want to talk about what this budget means for Canberrans. Since coming to office, our government has committed more than $4 billion to the ACT, and this budget builds on that record. There will be 260,000 working Canberrans receiving a new tax cut of up to $250 through the working Australians tax offset. On top of that, 140,000 Canberrans will benefit from a new $1,000 instant tax deduction. The budget also makes housing fairer.”
“Our government is investing $50 million, matched by the ACT and New South Wales governments, to upgrade the Canberra-Sydney rail link. This is something people have talked about for so long, and it is finally happening under our government. We're investing in our national institutions, which were falling into rack and ruin under the previous government, and we're ensuring that the CSIRO's groundbreaking research will continue with an additional $387 million funding boost. This is a budget that is delivering for Australians all around this country, helping them to earn more and keep more of what they earn and find stable housing, whether it's buying a new home or getting into homelessness support.”
“This budget is about who this government is fighting for: for the hard workers doing double shifts, who will keep more of what they earn; for the young couple in any electorate—mine or that of anyone here—who thought homeownership was out of their reach; and for the small-business owner who now has a permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off. This budget is about fighting for hardworking Australians—all of them, right across this country. That is what Labor does and what this budget does. It also invests in my own community here in Canberra, which is something we didn't see much of at all under the previous government. Yet, since coming to office, our government has committed more than $4 billion to the ACT. This is what it looks like when we are recognised as a community like the communities all around this country.”
“This is money going back into people's pockets. Labor governments always deliver. We said we'd cut income taxes—done. We said we'd invest in housing—done, to the tune of $47 billion since we've come to government. And we've said that we would take the pressure off working families, and that's exactly what this budget delivers and what the previous four Albanese Labor government budgets have delivered. The shadow treasurer wants to talk about broken promises. Where was the shadow treasurer when his government promised to fix housing and then proceeded to oversee a decade of doing absolutely nothing? We don't need a lecture on promises from a party that spent a decade in government and left Australians with nothing to show for it.”
“The changes to negative gearing are grandfathered so that those who currently negatively gear will not be affected; they can continue to do so. The capital gains that people have made to 1 July next year will be unaffected. Gains procured on existing investments prior to the start date will retain the 50 per cent discount. Most importantly, investors can still use negative gearing on new homes, so it's building into the tax system the incentive to invest in new houses and more homes, which is about addressing the supply issue as well. For Australian workers, this budget is cutting taxes for 13 million people. In the ACT, that includes 260,000 workers who will receive a tax cut of up to $250 through the working Australians tax offset, and 140,000 Canberran workers will benefit from a new $1,000 instant tax deduction.”
“We saw the results of that just over a year ago at the federal election, and we saw the results last weekend in Farrer. Voters have made up their minds on those opposite. Contrary to the proposition in this MPI, this budget delivers much-needed hope and a real plan to increase housing affordability for first home buyers. Our changes will open the door to 75,000 new homebuyers. We're making the tax system fairer by reforming negative gearing and the capital gains tax to ensure that every Australian has a chance at homeownership—and I know that everyone in this place, including those opposite, will be hearing from their communities, as I do, about the difficulty of breaking into that housing market, particularly for young people.”
“What a farce this MPI is—an MPI criticising the budget, from a shadow treasurer whose great economic idea was a thought bubble to force young people to make an absurd Faustian bargain to either raid their retirement savings or accept never to be able to buy their own home, the shadow treasurer who, as the chair of the economics committee, went around the country with a scare campaign telling pensioners that they would be made worse off by our policies, which was completely incorrect. It's little wonder that the Liberal Party are currently polling so low they're on the verge of becoming non-existent come the next election. They have zero vision, they have zero capacity to put forward a positive agenda for Australia and they have absolutely zero credibility.”
“I particularly enjoyed seeing the community garden, and it is really thriving—I congratulate Victoria Jewett and her team on the work that they've done there. They remediated a largely wasted area and made it into a thriving garden where community members can access a plot and grow their own vegetables. It was really great to hear people talk about what that meant to them and how they've been able to access this great fresh produce and a beautiful space to connect with nature.”
“On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the Old Narrabundah Community Council's annual community festival in Narrabundah. As always, it was a really well-attended and vibrant festival. There was great music there, including from the bands of Narrabundah College and Daramalan College, and lots of local producers providing great food. There were great performances and lots of people there enjoying a beautiful autumn morning in Canberra. These events don't happen by accident, and I thank the Old Narrabundah Community Council for everything they do. I congratulate them on what a successful event this always is. I particularly want to shout out to Andy Botham, and festival coordinators John Keeley and Tara Bucknall.”
“Those will be a clinic in Gungahlin run by Macquarie General Practice, a clinic in south Tuggeranong run by Next Practice Deakin, and one in Molonglo run by Ochre Health. All three clinics will be opened by 30 June this year. I thank those doctors and practices who, through a very competitive process, have been granted the funds to get those clinics up and running. I thank all the doctors in Canberra who are bulk-billing, and all the doctors in Canberra for the incredible role that you play in our community. We have listened to you about how hard it can be, and that's why we're providing this extra support. This is a really great initiative and we're pleased to see that Canberrans will have better access to fully bulk-billed GP clinics around the ACT from 30 June.”
“For too long it has been too difficult for Canberrans to find a bulk-billing GP. We've been listening to them, and I'm proud that our government has been able to deliver extra support to Canberra to ensure that we can boost bulk-billing GP access in our city. The Albanese Labor government is really delivering on bulk-billing, tripling the bulk-billing incentive around the nation, but rates in Canberra have still lagged behind the national average. We've been able to secure $24.3 million in a package to boost fully bulk-billed clinics to get up and running. Last Friday I joined Senator Katy Gallagher, Andrew Leigh and David Smith to announce the locations of the three new bulk-billing GP clinics in the ACT that this has enabled to be established.”
“My question is to the Minister for Social Services. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering cost-of-living relief for Australians, including in the social services portfolio, and are there any risks to this?”
“The government's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard has also seen a huge uplift in the number of models available, which jumped from 56 in 2022 to 160 by the end of last year, including utes and commercial vans. In 2022, there were only two EVs under $40,000; now, there are around 10—and, for the first time, there is even a model under $30,000. That is great news, because it needs to be something that is accessible to all Australians, as people want to be part of the transition to renewable energy. Just think for a second how much worse this fuel crisis would be if those EVs driving on Australian roads were replaced by petrol or diesel cars: it would only add to it. And, since this war began, demand for EVs has only increased. Carsales's data shows that EV searches nearly tripled from February to March 2026.”
“A few years ago, Scott Morrison said that EVs would 'end the weekend', but, clearly, it's people with EVs at the moment who are less worried about their weekends. The policy of those opposite is not serious energy policy. It's an ideological obsession with fossil fuels that would see Australia go backwards. And let's think about what cutting the EV incentives would mean. Australians are adopting electric vehicles at staggering rates. Total EV sales grew by 38 per cent in 2025, compared to 2024, with more than 157,000 EVs sold. EVs last year reached 13.1 per cent of new car sales, up from 9.6 per cent the year before, which brings Australia's total EV fleet to more than 454,000 vehicles. The Electric Vehicle Council has directly credited the Albanese government's electric car discount as a key driver of this uptake.”
“Their plan would have ended the electric car discount, reversed green hydrogen subsidies and tax credits, and paused the home battery scheme. In other words, they wanted to make Australians more dependent on fossil fuels, as the price of getting short-term relief for a fossil fuel crisis. Now, if there's anything we can learn from this crisis at the moment, it is that we need to be less reliant on fossil fuels. People, at the moment, who are lucky enough to have an electric vehicle are not worried about where they will get their fuel. This is, if anything, a message that the transition to renewable energy cannot come fast enough. Australia's reliance on fossil fuels exposes us to crises like these. Moving to a renewable future would mean that Australians would be more protected from global oil price shocks.”
“We've also made clear that we expect fuel retailers to pass these savings on, and the ACCC will be monitoring this closely. As the Treasurer said, if retailers do the wrong thing by Australian motorists and truckies, the ACCC will come down on them like a ton of bricks. We've empowered the ACCC by increasing their surveillance and monitoring powers, and we're increasing the penalties. The opposition have been loudly claiming credit for this policy. Let's be clear about what actually happened. This government acted decisively, at scale, through National Cabinet, with the states and territories aligned and a fully-costed package that delivers relief without recklessness. Those opposite called for similar measures, but proposed to fund them by gutting Australia's clean energy transition.”
“Crucially, in practice, what that means is that it has been reduced to zero for three months. That is because we appreciate the role that truckies and trucking have in keeping our economy moving, and this is to ensure that that can keep happening. This is a combined saving for truck operators of 32.4c per litre, 26.3c at the pump, and a further increase in fuel tax credits of 6c per litre that they will receive when they lodge their BAS. For an operator filling a 400-litre tank, that is approximately $130 in savings per fill. Our changes will give operators breathing room and will mean the whole supply chain breathes a little easier. I welcome the support of the Australian chamber of commerce, the National Road Transport Association and industry groups, right across the country, for these changes.”
“For the average commuter, that will be the equivalent of about $19 off a standard 65-litre tank of petrol or diesel. This is a meaningful saving for people experiencing price shocks as a result of the war and will be felt by every Australian at the bowser. The bill also provides the Treasurer with the additional flexibility to go further if required: to reduce the excise or equivalent customs duty by more than 50 per cent, should conditions deteriorate. It means that the government is not locked into a fixed response, as an evolving global situation continues to unfold. The bill also makes changes to the heavy vehicle road user charge, both increases and decreases, with appropriate flexibility, and suspends the limitations on increases to that charge for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years.”
“The member for Maranoa was talking about the companies ripping people off—well, that is the other thing we have taken a really strong focus on, making sure we have doubled the penalties for price gouging, as well as tasking the ACCC with very closely monitoring the price of fuel, ensuring that no-one is going to use this to exploit people with this impact on prices around the country. When fuel prices spike, as they have in the last few weeks, people feel it immediately and they feel it hard. This is part of our government's direct and practical response. It is targeted and it will deliver real relief at the bowser right now. The bill halves the fuel excise and the equivalent customs duty that applies to most fuels, from 52.6c per litre to 26.3c per litre.”
“The latest piece of action that we are taking is to reduce the fuel excise, halving it for the next three months so that every litre of petrol and diesel that people need is going to be more affordable for them. Everyone in this place will have been hearing from their communities about the uncertainty around fuel, the cost of fuel and the impact that that is having. Canberrans are not immune; we have had petrol stations running out of fuel here as well. So this is really a welcome step that our government is taking.”
“I am so tired of the coalition taking every opportunity to create a culture war where there doesn't need to be one. We are in a crisis, and our government is stepping up to address that. We are helping Australians feel confident and to get on with their lives, with their businesses, with taking care of their families and with getting to their jobs, and we've got people over there stirring up fear and confusion. Maybe they should take the message from the last two elections that people want to see their elected representatives taking leadership. There is a time to be statesmanlike and to not try to benefit politically from a crisis.”
“I also want to respond to the member for Maranoa. I want to say that there is not one person in our government who takes for granted the critical role of farmers, truckies and people in regional Australia. We are doing everything we can at the moment to ensure that all Australians have access to the fuel they need. While I represent a city and may not have many farmers in my electorate, I have many farmers in my family and also an understanding of where food and fibre come from, as everyone in this government does. We have been doing everything we can to ensure that our country keeps moving. I am so tired of this false dichotomy. I know it's what the Nationals need to do, but I am tired of them pretending somehow that we are not listening.”
“I rise in support of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026 today. I want to begin by acknowledging the concern in our community around what is going on in the Middle East. Of course, what we're speaking about today is the action we're taking to ensure the availability and affordability of fuel, but I want to first acknowledge that what I'm hearing from my community is concern and uncertainty around this war and its impacts. In particular, I met with some people yesterday whose families in Iran have been unable to contact them. People are really feeling concerned about the destruction and loss of innocent life that comes from any war. I want to begin by acknowledging that. The impacts of this are being felt far and wide at the moment, and by all Australians who have been seeing the increase in the price of fuel.”
“But we need to make sure that the clean energy transition is accessible for everyone, and I know that people in my community want to be part of that as well. It's important to them. At the moment, renters can't put solar on a roof that they can't own, and most people are unlikely to be in a position to afford a new EV, regardless of some of the fantastic incentives that we've provided. So this is a problem that we want to continue to work on, and there's a geopolitical reason that it's urgent as well. Our renewable resources—solar, wind and hydro—cannot be caught up in these global conflicts in the ways that the traditional fossil fuels that need to be shipped around the world can. That is another reason why it's critically important that we focus on the transition to renewables and ensure that no-one is left behind in that transition.”
“As I mentioned, at a time when we are faced with uncertainty, these renewable energy sources that we have right here in Australia, in abundance, are a huge benefit to our community and a huge advantage in us making that transition—and, at the same time, they ensure we have control over our energy sources. But it's really important that we don't ignore the green divide. Our government has been working hard to ensure that, when it comes to that transition, no-one is left behind. At the moment, the people who aren't feeling the pinch of the higher petrol prices are people who could already afford an electric vehicle, or those who aren't sweating on quarterly electricity bills are those who already have solar on their roof.”
“Here in the ACT, the ACT government have also provided their own incentives. This has meant that more Canberrans than ever are driving electric, and I believe we are leading the country in that regard. On home batteries, the Cheaper Home Batteries Program has now supported over a quarter of a million installations—that is a landmark number—helping all those Australian households to store energy that they've generated themselves. That is energy independence for a huge and growing number of Australian families. On large-scale renewables, project after project has been ticked off—offshore wind zones declared, solar and wind farms approved, transmission corridors moving through planning. The pipeline is filling, and it is delivering more and more energy. We're getting on with the huge transition to a renewable future.”
“Our parliament is meeting at a time of great global uncertainty, and people in my community here in Canberra are feeling deep concern about the situation globally but also feeling the impacts here, and are worried about our energy security and fuel security. So this is a great example of where the renewable energy transition helps us to have more control over our own energy and our energy sovereignty. What's important is that people who have less capacity to afford some of the personal renewable items need to be supported to be part of that transition—and that's exactly what community battery is about. Here in Canberra, the electric vehicle discount, cutting the fringe benefits tax and import tariffs on eligible electric vehicles, has helped drive a surge in EV ownership across Australia and particularly here in Canberra.”
“In the election campaign I was pleased to campaign for a community battery in the suburb of Dickson, within the electorate I represent. A few weeks ago I was excited to be at the launch, or the switching on, of that battery with the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen; the ACT Chief Minister; and the ACT environment minister, Suzanne Orr. This battery enables households in Dickson who don't have the capacity to have a battery themselves to store more of the energy generated by solar panels and keep that energy so we can use more of it and put it back into the grid. It enables the storage and sharing of energy, and, in a very practical sense, our community owning our energy future. That's what the energy transition looks like when it's working right here in a suburb like Dickson and in places all around this country.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. With the war in the Middle East impacting global supply chains, how is the Albanese Labor government working across the board, including with industry, to support Australia's fuel security and supply? What has been the response?”
“This youth services hub is a strong example of what can be achieved when two Labor governments work together with the community sector to improve outcomes. It reflects the Albanese Labor government's commitment to strengthening mental health care and ensuring no young person in Canberra is left without support when they need it most.”
“Operated by Uniting NSW.ACT and jointly funded by the Commonwealth and ACT governments, this service fills a critical gap in our youth mental health system. Too many young people carry the impacts of trauma without the support that they need, and this new hub recognises that mental health care works best when services are collaborative, community based and centred on the needs of young people themselves. I acknowledge Capital Health Network for its role in supporting these services through the Australian government's Primary Health Network program, as well as the dedicated staff and clinicians who have made this work possible. Most importantly, I want to acknowledge the young people and families who trust these services during some of the most challenging moments of their lives.”
“headspace Canberra, which relocated to Lyneham last year, provides mental health, physical health and wellbeing support for young people aged 12 to 25. The co-location with headspace early psychosis allows for seamless early intervention for young people who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing their first episode of psychosis, ensuring they receive the right care at the right time. The launch also marked the official opening of the ACT Youth Trauma Service—a free, multidisciplinary service supporting young people who are living with or are at risk of moderate mental ill-health and complex need, including experiences of trauma. This service has been co-designed with the local First Nations community and with young people, and it was great to hear from some of those people at the launch yesterday.”
“Canberrans often talk to me about the need for mental health services in our community, particularly for young people. So, yesterday, I was really proud to join Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Emma McBride and ACT Minister for Mental Health Rachel Stephen-Smith to officially launch the new youth services hub in Lyneham. This new hub is actually an Australian first model, and it brings together three vital services for young people in Canberra: headspace Canberra, the headspace Early Psychosis Program and the newly established ACT Youth Trauma Service. Co-located at one site on Northbourne Avenue, these services represent a major step forward in providing accessible, co-located and trauma informed mental health care for young people in our community.”
“Hanukkah is a story of resilience. It is a reminder that even a small amount of light can dispel a great deal of darkness. We stand with the Jewish community of Bondi, of Sydney and of all Australia. We will not let fear and hate win.”
“There were the police officers who ran towards danger to protect the community and were injured in the process; the lifeguards who sprung into action, providing first aid while the shooting was ongoing; the off-duty first responders who showed up because they knew there was need; the doctors, paramedics and other healthcare professionals who rushed to hospitals whether they were scheduled to work or not; the thousands of ordinary Australians who flocked to Red Cross blood donation centres, taking up the call from medical professionals who put out the plea for urgent blood donations; and everyone who attended vigils and lit candles in solidarity with the Jewish community. It is from our shared humanity—in recognising and responding to the divinity and dignity of every person—that we will rebuild from this.”
“There were civilians like Ahmed al-Ahmed, who risked everything to disarm the attackers; Reuven Morrison and Boris and Sofia Gurman, who lost their lives confronting the terrorists; Jessica Rozen, who found herself separated from her own three-year-old son but sheltered from the gunfire a little girl also separated from her family; and many others who shielded strangers.”
“A week after the attack, I joined hundreds and hundreds of Canberrans for a vigil here at Parliament House. Rabbi Feldman, the senior rabbi from Chabad ACT, spoke, and I hope he won't mind me reflecting on some of his words. He said that, as a rabbi, he's often asked, 'Where is God?' in an event like this. His response is not to ask, 'Where is God?' but, 'Where is man?' He went on to say that it is amidst the darkness of 14 December that we see God in the way that people responded—in our shared humanity. We acknowledge the heroes of Bondi.”
“The Jewish community have helped to build our nation and must always feel safe and welcome here. For a community to be targeted while celebrating a holiday that defines their heritage and their resilience is a strike at the heart of our multicultural society. In this country, the right to gather, to pray and to celebrate one's culture without fear is non-negotiable. When Jewish Australians are targeted, will are diminished. Today we not only give our condolences but stand resolved in the absolute rejection of extremist hatred in all its forms. I know that many members of the Jewish community here in Canberra had close connections with those who lost their lives or were injured. Again, I give them and their families my condolences and offer my solidarity.”