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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 Hansard (14 May) . . Page.. 1157 ..

MR WHITECROSS (Leader of the Opposition): Mr Speaker, the Opposition wholeheartedly endorses this motion of condolence and joins with the Government to express our deepest sympathy to all touched by this: The families and friends of the people who were killed and of the people who were injured and the other people who have been involved. The collective pain of what happened at Port Arthur has been felt by them, by people throughout Tasmania, by people throughout Australia and, in many senses, by people around the world; just as we have felt the pain of similar events in the past that have happened elsewhere in the world.

It is appropriate for this Assembly to pass on its deepest sympathies; first, to the families of the victims. The loss that they have suffered is a severe one and is made all the more severe by the senselessness of the circumstances of that loss. There are so many families involved - parents and siblings, partners, grandparents, grandchildren. Then there are the survivors - those who were not killed and who have to deal with injuries, many very severe, and who have to deal with the questions that survivors always ask about why they survived and others did not; who also have families and friends and loved ones who have to deal with what has happened to them. Then there are the people who cared for the survivors and, indeed, those who died: Emergency workers, police and ambulance people, people from the medical profession, counsellors, social workers, priests, friends and families who are still putting together the pieces of what happened, and who will be doing so for a long time to come, and who will be affected throughout their lives by this experience. Mr Speaker, to all those people our sympathies must go. This has been a terrible tragedy, a terrible scar on our community, and we must remember these people and others who have suffered like them. We must also pray that some good will come out of this; that this event will make us pause to reflect on the place of violence on our society.

It is one small but important consolation, I suppose, that we have taken up the issue of gun law reform, as the Chief Minister mentioned. We need to continue to reflect on the impact of violence in our society. Sometimes it is easy for a community like ours to become a little bit blase about violence, and that is to our collective shame, I think. But events like this remind us that violence has real consequences and that there are victims who will be suffering for some time to come because of this violent and senseless act. As I said, Mr Speaker, our sympathies must be with them - the families of those who have died and those who have survived - and those who have been touched by this tragedy.

MR MOORE: Like many other people in Australia, I have been overwhelmingly saddened by the events of two weeks ago at Port Arthur in Tasmania. Like many other people, I have gone through a range of reactions - sadness and grief in empathy with all those who lost dear ones so brutally on that occasion; shock at the act itself and the unbelievable senselessness of it; finally, a feeling of sympathy for those who are left behind. They have to deal with the aftermath of this tragedy. One would not be blamed for feeling overwhelmed with despair about tragedies such as these and what they do to the psyche of Australians. What does help us to overcome pessimism on these occasions is the extraordinary courage and heroic efforts made by those who tried to protect others, those who helped others to safety, those who assisted with medical and counselling care and those members of the police force who were on duty.

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