REMARKS AT THE COMMUNITY CANDLELIGHT VIGIL IN RECOGNITION OF THE BONDI JUNCTION TRAGEDY
*Remarks by the Premier of NSW, Chris Minns
DOLPHIN COURT, BONDI BEACH
SUNDAY, 21 APRIL 2024
Friends, thank you for being here tonight, on the land of the Bidjigal and Gadigal people.
I acknowledge the family, friends and loved ones of those killed in this attack, and everyone who was injured or affected in Bondi Junction on the 13th of April.
Thank you for allowing us to mourn with you this evening.
Grief can be a terrible burden.
But it doesn’t have to be a lonely one.
There are millions of Australians that feel great sadness for your loss tonight. And they are in your corner in the days and weeks ahead.
This week, we saw a single bouquet left on Oxford Street grow into a sea of flowers.
And here tonight, we have a sea of people mourning your loss.
Most of the people here have never had the chance to meet your loved ones.
But in this terrible week, we have come to learn something of their characters of the people and who they were.
For all their differences, they seem familiar to us;
They looked like the Australia we know.
A young woman – planning her big wedding day – enjoying young love.
A new mum – nursing her beautiful baby girl.
A Masters student – having finished her final exam – trying on new clothes.
A refugee – travelling across the world for a better shot at life.
An artist – browsing shops.
And an architect – out in Bondi with her family.
What they all had in common were they were making plans.
They were hopeful, optimistic people.
They were looking to the future with excitement, focussed on tomorrow.
And one of the things we mourn tonight – one of the truly unforgivable things – is the loss of those tomorrows.
These were people who made life bigger; who saw the possibilities around them.
They had faith in the future; and that was taken from them.
In normal times, Saturday afternoon is a golden hour.
When we have the freedom to be ourselves.
In a city where you have to work incredibly hard Monday to Friday – just to get by.
Saturdays are a chance to do what we want, with the people that we like, in places we enjoy.
Last week, that easy peace was shattered in Bondi Junction.
In that awful hour, our city was reminded that, whoever we are, wherever we live, whatever we look like, we are all connected in this life.
That is what we saw in Westfields.
When a security guard, fresh to this country, on the first day on the job, gave his life in defence of someone else.
When a nurse asked to leave her place of safety – because there were people on the outside who needed a hand.
When a French tradie, armed with a flimsy bollard, faced down the attacker so other people could get out of the way.
And when Police Inspector Amy Scott heard news of the danger, and without immediate backup, or any hesitation at all, ran towards the violence.
We ask our emergency workers, many of whom are young, to walk into terrible situations as an ordinary part of their job.
And notwithstanding the dangers of the last week, if there was an emergency tomorrow, we’d ask them to do it all over again.
The truth is we don’t have a choice – we need them.
The least we can do is say thank you and acknowledge absolutely that our police, our paramedics did their duty when they were called upon.
They saved lives and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.
Friends, these scenes have shaken all of us.
But I want to send a specific message to the women of New South Wales tonight.
We might not know the exact motives behind this attack.
What we can say is that every Australian woman deserves to feel safe in her community.
This your state and your city. This is your home.
You have every right to live your life, as you choose, free from fear and violence.
And we will not be a state where a woman is forced to change their behaviour because of the feelings, or anger, of other people.
Friends, I know that there are unanswered questions out there.
And there is understandable anger at what happened.
But tonight, we should not let that cloud our memory of your loved ones.
Because Saturday was not the story of their lives.
We remember them at their happiest, living their life, doing what they loved, surrounded by the people they cared about.
We remember their joy.
Patrolling Bronte Beach, on a January morning.
Developing their artworks.
Raising families, experiencing young love.
Crossing the world with hope in their heart.
That is how they deserve to be remembered.
And that is how we honour them tonight.
Bondi is known all around the world for its glamour.
And with a view this beautiful – it’s easy for many people to think that you’d go soft.
But Bondi is tough. And this is a strong community.
And we will get through this.
Because it’s full of people who will put their own lives in danger to rescue someone else.
Because we’ll grieve for people in our community we’ve never met, just because they’re in our community.
And because, despite it all, just like those who are gone – we are still excited and hopeful about tomorrow.
