Page 3965 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 17 November 2015
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We regard Paris as our sister city, a place for which we have deep reserves of love and admiration and respect.
We are two capitals united in our values—democratic freedom, openness and tolerance. The people who launched the attacks … have no such values. They wish to undermine the things we hold most precious. They want to set neighbour against neighbour.
They want to spread fear.
They will not succeed.
To borrow from David Cameron once again, he said:
We are shocked, but resolute.
In sorrow, but unbowed.
The French President, Francois Hollande, told 900 members of the upper and lower houses of parliament at Versailles:
France is at war. It constitutes an attack on our country, its values, its youth, its way of life.
France and Australia have a long-shared history. In times of peace and of war, in times of prosperity and of hardship, Australia has stood by France for well over 100 years. We stand with them again today.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo), by leave: On behalf of the ACT Greens I extend our deepest sympathies to the people of Paris and all who have lost loved ones in the horrendous violence over the weekend. In what appear to be coordinated terrorists attacks, many people were killed and many more were badly injured. Many of the injured will wear their scars, both physical and emotional, for the rest of their lives.
The violence in Paris was only one attack in a very violent year. Two days before Paris, Islamic state bombed Beirut, killing 43 and injuring hundreds more. In April al-Shabaab militants killed 147 people at Garissa University in Kenya. In January Boko Haram razed the town of Baga in Nigeria, killing as many as 2,000 people. Of course, January also saw the al-Qaeda attacks on Charlie Hebdo, again in Paris. The list goes on and on.
Sometimes it feels like the world is becoming a more violent place. It is hard to know whether that is in fact true. The people of Europe will remember the IRA, ETA and the Red Brigades. But they will rebuild their community after this bloodshed, just as they have on those previous occasions.
The French nation will be weeping for the victims of this tragedy and they will understandably want to strike back. President Francois Hollande has called for a pitiless response and French jets are already responding over Syria. He has also flagged constitutional reforms to grant greater powers to domestic security forces in times of crisis.
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