Page 1924 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 5 August 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Prime Minister Tony Abbot and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop have shown genuine international leadership and strength but to balance that with real human caring and concern. I support the national message of condolence issued by the Prime Minister, which states:
Our hearts go out to all their families. We will support them through the difficult times ahead. In coming weeks, Australians will stand with the families, friends, neighbours and colleagues who have lost people they cherish. Twenty-three million Australians share the sadness of those who mourn. We are united in grief and in our determination to ensure that justice is done.
I commend the Chief Minister for bringing this motion to the Assembly today and I join with other members of the Assembly in offering family and friends my most sincere condolences to all of the victims and all of those affected.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo—Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Housing, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Minister for Ageing): There is no doubt that each of us in our own way have been affected by the recent tragic events surrounding the downing of flight MH17. To all the families of those on the flight, we send our sincere condolences. To all of the friends and loved ones of those on the flight, we also send our condolences.
It is often difficult when we are confronted with events that have such a direct and tragic impact on our lives to make sense of what has happened, to understand how it could have happened and to wonder who to blame. It could have been any of us who checked in for that flight. It could have been any of our family or friends that were on that flight, or perhaps we do know someone who knows someone who was on that flight.
We all step on and off aircraft. We all have family and friends who do the same. I have asked myself why it is that we feel so keenly the loss of some people, in some circumstances, perhaps more that we do others. I know that for me, when I heard about this particular flight, one that left from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, it was brought home most keenly that there could have been someone I knew on that flight. Having spent five years living in Amsterdam, of arriving and departing from that airport, it was particularly easy to personally imagine the experiences of those that were lost onboard MH17.
Some would have been excited as they headed off on holidays. Some would have been exhausted and looking forward to coming home to Australia. Some would have been on work trips, perhaps journeying to South East Asia or Australia for business. Some may have been on emergency family trips to visit sick relatives or to pay their respects. Every passenger on that plane had their own story and each and every story reminds us of the value of their lives and the randomness with which their lives were lost. Every passenger on that plane has someone who is grieving their loss and wondering why this happened to them, to their family, their friends, their community.
Conflict is a terrible thing. It rarely fixes things and it nearly always impacts on people who are not directly engaged in it. Conflict has many victims who are not
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video