Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG (Macquarie Fields—Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Minister for Building, and Minister for Corrections) (15:53): I thank the House for this opportunity to speak. I commend the Premier for moving this important motion, and also commend all members who have spoken or will speak on it. It is a motion that all members in this House would support, and that I know all in our community would also support, given the tragic events that have occurred. I join with my colleagues across Parliament in remembering the six victims in that tragic and horrific attack on innocent lives.

It was a very normal Saturday and people were doing very normal activities with their friends and families: shopping, going to the cafe, going to Woolies, going to Coles, trying on new clothes. Those are things we do every single day, everywhere. That tragic and horrific attack could have been anywhere and could have happened to any one of us. It goes to show that life is precious and, at times, precarious as well. Hold on to your loved ones. I know that the families of the victims will forever feel the grief of that immeasurable loss. They say time may heal all wounds, but this is certainly a very deep wound for the friends and families of the innocents who have lost their lives.

As the Premier said at the memorial for the victims, these were ordinary people looking forward to their tomorrows: birthday parties, engagements, weddings, education. Those are all part of life's journey and its great, wonderful moments—moments they will not be able to celebrate with their friends and family. The victims represent the Australia that we all know and love so deeply: a young woman planning her big wedding day; a new mum nursing her beautiful baby girl; a masters student coming to study in Australia and just trying on new clothes; a refugee travelling from the other side of the world for a better shot on what is undoubtedly the greatest country on the planet; an artist browsing the shops, as we all do, for a bit of window shopping; and an architect out in Bondi with her family.

Of course, the tragedy means that we have to take action to ease the burden of grief for the families of the victims. The situation that unfolded cannot be rationalised and we cannot explain it. What we can do is acknowledge the incredible loss and the incredible grief. Today I join with all my colleagues in recognising that grief. We recommit ourselves—not just as a Parliament but as a whole community—to try to eradicate the sickening violence that stole so many innocent lives and forever left a mark on their families and friends. I join my colleagues to say that enough is enough.

We recognise that this violence does not discriminate at all. Today we also acknowledge that overwhelmingly the victims of the violence in that tragedy and others are predominantly women. But in all of the tragedy we saw some very heroic moments and also deep compassion and understanding from everybody in our community. People who did not know the victims nevertheless came to show their support, their emotions and their empathy. That reflects our great community of great people who will always support other Australians and other people who come to our shores at a time of great need.

We must continue to recognise our frontline services, including police officer Amy Scott, who heroically ran into danger, and our frontline responders in health. We should also recognise the ongoing support for victims and for the community as a whole. This requires a cross-government and cross‑community response. I add my voice as a member of Parliament to the many others that have spoken and will speak today. We share the grief and loss. This tragic incident has left so many families grieving. No doubt they will be grieving for a long time. As Minister for Corrections, I pledge to continue to work with my department to actually break the cycles of violence, as I said in question time today. We will hold perpetrators to account, but also make sure that we connect and try to change behaviour so that acts of violence, in particular against women and children, do not occur in our community. I join the House in supporting this wonderful motion.