COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Official Hansard No. 14, 2001 MONDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2001 THIRTY-NINTH PARLIAMENT FIRST SESSION—TENTH PERIOD BY AUTHORITY OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES INTERNET The Votes and Proceedings for the House of Representatives are available at: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/info/votes Proof and Official Hansards for the House of Representatives, the Senate and committee hearings are available at: http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard SITTING DAYS—2001 Month Date February 6, 7, 8, 26, 27, 28 March 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 26, 27, 28, 29 April 2, 3, 4, 5 May 22, 23, 24 June 4, 5, 6, 7, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28 August 6, 7, 8, 9, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30 September 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27 October 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25 November 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22 December 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13 RADIO BROADCASTS Broadcasts of proceedings of the Parliament can be heard on the following Parliamentary and News Network radio stations, in the areas identified. CANBERRA 1440 AM SYDNEY 630 AM NEWCASTLE 1458 AM BRISBANE 936 AM MELBOURNE 1026 AM ADELAIDE 972 AM PERTH 585 AM HOBART 729 AM DARWIN 102.5 FM Monday, 17 September 2001 REPRESENTATIVES 30739 Monday, 17 September 2001 of no more sombre occasion than the circum- ————— stances under which this House meets today. We have had tragedies of a national and in- Mr SPEAKER (Mr Neil Andrew) took ternational kind before. We have been the chair at 2.00 p.m., and read prayers. touched by the poignancy of the deaths of BUSINESS people. We have confronted significant Motion (by Mr Reith)—by leave—agreed moral and national challenges, but none to: matches in depth, scale and magnitude the That so much of the standing and sessional or- consequences of what the world must now ders be suspended as would prevent the routine of do in response to the terrible events in the business for this sitting being, unless otherwise United States last week. ordered, a motion to be moved by the Prime In sheer scale, the death and destruction Minister relating to terrorist attacks in the United are almost incomprehensible in a time not States of America. regarded as a time of war. It would appear UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: that more than double the number of Ameri- TERRORIST ATTACKS cans who died at Pearl Harbour have died in Mr HOWARD (Bennelong—Prime Min- New York City and Washington as a result of ister) (2.01 p.m.)—I move: these terrorist attacks. The death toll could That this House: easily be more than the entire American bat- tle losses on the first day of the Normandy (1) expresses its horror at the terrorist attacks which have claimed so many lives in the invasion in June of 1944. They dwarf, of United States of America; course, the terrible loss inflicted by Timothy McVeigh’s act of madness on the federal (2) conveys to the Government and people of the United States of America the deepest sym- building in Oklahoma some six or seven pathy and sense of shared loss felt by the years ago. So it is in every sense a tragedy Government and people of Australia; and an obscenity of an appalling and repug- (3) extends condolences to the families and other nant magnitude. loved ones of those Australians killed or It goes beyond the death so cruelly in- missing as a result of the attacks; flicted without warning, without justification (4) declares that such attacks represent an as- and without any skerrick of moral authority sault, not only on the people and the values on innocent people merely going about their of the United States of America, but of free daily lives; its context represents a massive societies everywhere; assault on the values not only of the United (5) praises the courageous efforts of those en- States of America but also of this country— gaged in the dangerous rescue operation still the values of free men and women and of underway; decent people and decent societies around (6) believes that the terrorist actions in New the world. It is an act of terror. It is an act York City and Washington DC constitute an which is repugnant to all of the things that attack upon the United States of America we as a society believe in. On occasions like within the meaning of Articles IV and V of this, those things that divide us in this par- the ANZUS Treaty; liament, those things that we might bicker (7) fully endorses the commitment of the Aus- and quarrel over as a people, as we go about tralian Government to support within Aus- our lives, are so suddenly and so quickly put tralia’s capabilities United States-led action into perspective. against those responsible for these tragic at- tacks; and I remember the morning in Washington— (8) encourages all Australians in the wake of as the House knows, I had been in the United these appalling events to display those very States. I had been for an early morning walk. qualities of tolerance and inclusion which the It was a beautiful Washington morning— terrorists themselves have assaulted with there was just a touch of autumn. I had such awful consequences. walked past the Lincoln memorial and many In the 27 years that I have been privileged to of the other great memorials of that great be a member of this parliament, I can think nation which stood between us and tyranny 30740 REPRESENTATIVES Monday, 17 September 2001 on one critical occasion in our history. I, like in hundreds of Australian homes at present. millions of other Australians, was deeply The sheer scale of the loss of life suffered by moved and distressed. I felt an enormous our American friends has perhaps dwarfed sense of empathy towards the American the realisation that up to 80 or 90 Australians people who had suffered this awful deed. have lost their lives. There will be many in Out of that tragedy have come, as always, this House who will know somebody or who great stories of the spirit and the heroism of will know the family of somebody who died men and women in circumstances of disaster in New York or in Washington. Moreover, and tragedy. As much as we are devastated we will know people who, simply as a result and distressed by what has happened, and as of the lottery of life, escaped death. In my much as we feel repelled by the belief that own case it is a former Treasury official and there should be people on our earth who economic adviser of mine employed by would want to plot for years to undertake Morgan Stanley, a firm which had 3,500 em- such attacks, as always the events that fol- ployees in that building. But for the happy lowed these attacks have given us a source of circumstance for him of being on parental great hope and faith in the resilient spirit of leave for the birth of his second child, he men and women who face moral and physi- would have been in the building. Two hun- cal danger and challenge. The stories of dred of his work mates are yet unaccounted heroism that have come out of these events for. That story can be repeated time without are a tribute to the spirit of the American number. people and a tribute to the spirit of resilient The number of Australians who have died men and women around the world. Who will is a reminder of just how interconnected we ever forget the story of that wonderful Father all are. This attack has brought home to us Mychal Judge, the chaplain of the New York many things. It has brought home to us the Police Department, who remained behind to global character of our world. I suppose in deliver the last rites of the Catholic Church their evil disposition those who launched this to a dying fireman, or the immense courage attack had that precisely in mind. When you of those three people on the plane that think about it, it was an outrage to attack crashed in Pittsburgh who, knowing they buildings in a city which is a monument to faced certain death, decided to tackle the inclusion. There is no more multiracial city terrorists in the cockpit, perhaps averting in the world; there is no city in the world that even further destruction being rained on ei- has more generously welcomed people from ther Washington or New York? around the globe than the city of New York. As we struggle as Australians and as we When you go through those poignant photo- struggle as citizens of the world to come to graphs of those who died, so many of them terms with what has happened, it is certain, tragically young, you have white faces and as others have said, that the world has black faces; you have smiling Irish- changed. We are all diminished, we are all American faces, you have Asian faces and changed, and we are all rather struggling you have Hispanic faces; you have bearded with the concept that it will never be quite faces and you have clean shaven faces. I the same again. This is no isolated act of ter- have no doubt that amongst those who died rorism: this is the product of years of careful were many Americans of the Islamic faith, planning, it is the product of evil minds and and that is an issue to which I will return in a it is the product of an attitude of a group of moment.